Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for giving me the opportunity to address the matters raised in this Private Members' motion on School Transport. Before I address the specific issues raised, I will provide an outline of the extent of the school transport scheme. The school transport scheme was established in 1968. It was created to facilitate access to primary and post-primary education for children, who because of where they reside, might otherwise have difficulty in attending school regularly. I am deeply conscious of the immense service that the scheme provides for families around the country. The scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2021-22 school year, more than 105,000 children, including more than 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

To date in the current school year, there are approximately 124,000 children availing of transport on the mainstream primary and post-primary school transport schemes and approximately 17,3000 children availing of transport on the school transport scheme for children with special educational needs such that a total of 141,300 children travel to school on school transport scheme services. Under the terms of the primary and post-primary school transport schemes, which is an important factor, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school and at post-primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post primary school or education centre as determined by the Department-Bus Éireann having regard to ethos and language.

In addition, pending completion of the outcome of the full review of the school transport scheme, temporary alleviation measures at post-primary level will be continued for the 2022-23 school year. Under these measures, transport will be provided for post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school and who applied by 29 April and registered for a ticket by 29 July. It is important to emphasise that there are eligibility criteria regarding access to the school transport system. That has always been the way, it was the way in previous years and it is the way currently. The eligibility criteria have not changed.

Under the terms of the school transport scheme for children with special educational needs, children are eligible for transport where they have special educational needs arising from a diagnosed disability and are attending the nearest recognised mainstream school, special class or special school that is or can be resourced to meet their special educational needs. Eligibility is determined following consultation with the National Council for Special Education through its network of special educational needs organisers.

As the Senators will be aware, as an emergency cost of living measure, the Government announced funding for the waiving of school transport scheme fees for the 2022-23 school year as part of a wider package of cost of living measures. This created a saving of up to €650 for parents at a time when measures were announced to reduce the cost to families for school transport services. These measures were in addition to the reductions in the family cap that were announced by the Government in February 2022 to mitigate the cost of living and remove the cost of ticket charges for the 2022-23 school year.

School transport ticket registration for the 2022-23 school year closed on 29 July, by which time almost 130,000 applications and registrations were received for mainstream school transport. The online account management system, known as the family portal, which had been closed since registrations shut on 29 July, reopened on 25 August. Where applications have been processed, the reopening of the portal will enable account holders to check the status of their application. While the reopening of the portal also facilitates a late application process, it is very important for such families to note that the application deadline for 2022-23 was 29 April 2022 and that the deadline to confirm registration for tickets was 29 July 2022. Any application completed after this date is deemed a "late application" and, therefore, many school transport services are already operating at full capacity. Late applications will only be assessed after all "on time" applications have been processed and there is no guarantee of places for late applicants.

Already, more than 124,000 tickets for the mainstream scheme alone have been issued to applicants for the 2022-23 school year. At the start of the last school year, approximately 103,600 children were carried on mainstream school transport services, so in the region of 20,400 additional mainstream places already have been created. The temporary waiving of fees has led to an unprecedented expansion of the scheme with many more eligible and concessionary applicants receiving tickets than ever before. There has been an increase in tickets allocated across all counties with an increase of 18% in the number of tickets issued to eligible pupils compared to the start of the 2021-22 school year and an increase of one third in the number of tickets issued to concessionary pupils compared to the start of the 2021-22 school year. That is an important factor. There is actually an increase of one third in the number who have qualified for concessionary places on buses this year. The funding required to waive the fee for families for the current school year and the funding to provide the additional services required to cater for the increased demand for school bus tickets is being provided by my Department. Already this expansion has cost an additional €40 million above last year's costings. Notwithstanding this, I acknowledge that the huge increase in applications has led to frustration over delays in issuing and accessing tickets in some instances. I can assure Members that Bus Éireann will continue to work intensively in all regions to process applications and to issue tickets.

For this year and in line with normal practice, all eligible children who completed the application and ticket registration process on time for the 2022-23 school year will be accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation. This notwithstanding, I am conscious that there are families who are not eligible for the scheme but who have depended on the service in previous years. I am addressing this issue with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in the context of the budget.

My Department also continues to progress a review of the school transport scheme, which includes an examination the current scheme and how it currently operates, its broader effectiveness and sustainability and that it might adequately support the provision of services to students and their families. The review encompasses the school transport scheme for children with special educational needs. The review of the primary and post-primary school transport schemes will examine each element of the schemes and include eligibility criteria, trends, costs, cost drivers and overall effectiveness in meeting the objectives of the schemes. The review will also examine the potential for integration of different strands of the scheme and a more co-ordinated approach with other Departments that also use or provide transport services.

Wider considerations relating to the operation of the scheme are taking place in the current phase of the review. As part of the current phase of the review, the technical working group has undertaken extensive consultation, including running a public survey for parents, guardians and students who use the service and those who do not use the service but who would like to. These engagements have yielded extensive data for consideration. The group has also consulted with a broad array of stakeholders, including schools, special education interest groups, industry representatives and other Departments.

One of the findings of the stakeholder engagement process is that the school transport scheme is highly valued by families and that families, particularly those living in rural Ireland, rely heavily on the scheme to get their children to school where there is a lack of public transport alternatives.Another key finding is that the scheme is viewed as a key factor in supporting climate change measures, and there was support for increasing capacity on school transport which in turn will reduce car journeys and congestion at schools and in towns. While work on the review was impacted somewhat by the challenges of the pandemic and the impact of the current conflict in Ukraine, it is anticipated that the final phases will be completed shortly with recommendations on the future operation of the Department's school transport scheme. The steering group will continue to report to me on an interim basis as the review progresses.

With regard to the retirement age of school bus drivers, it is Bus Éireann company policy that the normal retirement age for all Bus Éireann staff is currently 66 years. However, Bus Éireann part-time school bus drivers and drivers nominated by private operators who operate services as part of the school transport scheme may continue to perform in the role, provided they hold the requisite license and satisfy an annual medical examination, until they retire at 70 years of age. This policy and these criteria are applied to all drivers who provide school transport services on behalf of Bus Éireann equally. The age limit for school bus drivers was increased to 70 years a number of years ago. While Bus Éireann has informed the Department there is no plan to increase the age limit further at this time, the matter will continue to be kept under review. I can assure the Senators that my officials will continue to engage with Bus Éireann as they currently do with regard to all aspects of the operation of the school transport scheme. In addition, quarterly strategic and monthly operational meetings will continue to be held throughout the year to discuss operational and strategic matters including financial matters, fleet and other resource requirements, scheme delivery and other such matters that arise to ensure continued and effective operation of this very significant scheme.

I would like again to take the opportunity to point out that the announcement was made as part of a cost-of-living provision for families. It is a considerable saving for families, up to €650 for many. It was announced on the basis of the criteria that currently exist and that did not change. The criteria that exist are that a primary school pupil lives 3.2 km from his or her school or that a post-primary school student lives 4.8 km from his or her nearest or next nearest school. All of those who met the eligibility criteria have been provided for. More than 124,000 of them have been provided for this year as opposed to 103,000 last year. That is a significant increase of more than 20% additional capacity and it is also free of charge. There is an issue with concessionary tickets for those who receive seats on the basis of availability once those who are eligible have been provided for. This has not changed this year. Those who are concessionaries, provided there is capacity, have received seats on buses this year and there has been a one third increase in concessionary tickets this year.

There have been issues with the school bus transport system. I recognise that and I am the first Minister to instigate a root-and-branch review of the entire school bus transport system which specifically will address eligibility criteria. Previous Ministers who served in my Department did not do so in past years. I think it is important to remember that.

Equally in terms of addressing the issues for this cohort of children with concessionary tickets who are not eligible to be on the bus under the present scheme but have depended on it previously, I have opened discussions with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, in the context of the budget to see if there is scope to ensure that some financial provision can be made to alleviate the situation for families that find themselves in that specific situation, having previously been awarded concessionary tickets and having capacity available on a bus. Those discussions are ongoing.

I would say to Senators that these are individuals and I do not take from the difficulty and challenge that it provides for families. It is for that reason that I instigated an entire review of the process, recognising that there are other ways and better ways of providing the service. That review has involved engagement with more than 8,000 parents, 2,000 students, bus providers, bus operators and our European counterparts to look at best practice in other jurisdictions. The review is nearing completion. In the short term, this measure was introduced to alleviate cost-of-living pressure on families. I am in ongoing discussions with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in respect of the specific cohort who currently find themselves outside the loop.

I want to refer also to a question around special education. I appreciate the Senator raising that issue. Those who are availing of the school transport scheme from a special education point of view do so and have consistently done so free of charge. There may well be challenges in terms of recruiting staff. I want to be fair and say to the Senator that this challenge in recruiting staff is not unique to the transport system at this time. We are seeing similar issues in business and hospitality. We are working through that with Bus Éireann. Children with special educational needs are being provided for free of charge as was the case previously. In fact there has been an increase in transport provision for children with special educational needs, due largely to the large number of additional classes that we have in place and everything else.

I thank the Senators for their ongoing interest and commitment in this area. I thank them for the issues they have highlighted which are of great interest across the floor of the House. I assure them that we are continuing to work on it. We have had no choice but to abide by the eligibility criteria at this point. There will be another opportunity to look at it in its broadest sense when the review is completed. In the short term, for those who were outside the loop, who were not eligible this year and were concessionaries previously, where there is capacity, I am engaged with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, to see what scope there is in the upcoming budget.