Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for the question. This year, 25 April is the final date by which families can apply on the portal. It is important that date is out there and that families know about it. Indeed, most families availing of it do know about it at this stage. When those figures come to hand, we will review what is necessary. In our experience, from August onwards, families get the routes and so forth, then the challenges come in and it takes some time to work through them. My commitment is that we will work with the review, work with the pilot projects and work very hard to make sure we can accommodate as many students as possible. The flashpoints are at second level but there are also a number of issues in respect of primary schools.

I take the point the Senator made regarding over-70s, which is something we in the Department want to review and clarify. Nevertheless, I remind her we are committed to increasing school transport and implementing the recommendations in the review on expanding access to the scheme, which was published in 2024, as fairly as possible to ensure we can provide transport for students.