Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Garvey for her important Commencement matter. There is no doubt but that this issue has caused huge distress to families throughout the country. Before I address the specific issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley, I would like to provide an outline of the extent of the school transport service. The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the last school year, more than 121,400 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. The cost of the scheme in 2021 was €289 million. The school transport scheme is an important service for families and children. The purpose of the Department's school transport scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

In July 2022 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. 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. This figure included 44,299 new applications as well as roll-overs from the previous school year. Already more than 126,000 tickets have issued for the 2022-23 school year. At the start of the last school year, circa 103,600 children were carried on mainstream school transport services, in the region of 22,400 additional places already have been created.

The normal eligibility criteria of the scheme still apply and tickets are allocated in line with the criteria. Pupils at primary level are eligible when they live no less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest primary school. At post-primary level, students who live no less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post-primary school education centre are deemed eligible. Any pupils or students who do not meet these criteria are deemed not eligible or otherwise known as concessionary applicants and are allocated a ticket based on the availability of a seat when all eligible children have been catered for. 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.

Following discussions between the Minister, Deputy Foley, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, and officials in his Department as part of the budgetary process, some additional funding has now been approved for the scheme. This will allow officials in the Department of Education, in consultation with Bus Éireann, to consider and evaluate where temporary additional capacity may be available. The initial focus will be on families who applied on time and who previously held concessionary tickets to alleviate the impact of the increased demands on the scheme for those families. However it is important to stress that this is subject to capacity considerations. Constraints in sourcing vehicles and drivers in certain areas of the country may also mean that it may take a longer number of weeks to explore solutions for additional capacity. The specific issues mentioned by Senator Garvey related to a case where the driver of a route is unfortunately currently unable to work on the route. Bus Éireann is currently working to source a driver at present and hopes to have a replacement as an interim measure shortly.