Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 29: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills her plans in relation to promoting environmentally friendly school transport; her views on whether parents should be encouraged to use public school transport to bring children to schools instead of increasing carbon emissions by personally driving their children to school; if all efforts are made to ensure such transport is provided to children in need of this public service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18073/10]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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One of the main objectives of the school transport scheme is to provide a basic level of service for children who live long distances from school and who might otherwise experience difficulty in attending regularly.

The school transport scheme, which is operated by Bus Éireann on my Department's behalf, facilitates the transportation of over 125,000 children to primary and post-primary schools each day including approximately 8,000 children with special educational needs. The allocation for school transport in 2010 is €186 million.

School transport is a very significant national operation involving about 42 million journeys and over 82 million kilometres on 6,000 routes every school year. This service is delivered using a mix of BE, both school transport and road passenger vehicles, private contractor vehicles including private operator scheduled services, and Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, DART and LUAS where practical. The scheme therefore encourages a significant reduction in daily usage of individual cars, and as a consequence also reduces carbon emissions by parents transporting their children to school.

In a new initiative announced in recent days Bus Éireann has partnered with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to introduce eco-driving and other energy efficiency methods in order to benefit the environment and make energy savings. Bus Éireann has become a member of SEAI's Energy Exemplar Partnership Programme, which will see it introduce a number of energy management initiatives as part of the public sector target of a 33 per cent improvement in energy efficiency by 2020.

One of these initiatives, which Bus Éireann is currently piloting, is Eco-driving. Eco-driving is an internationally tested method of reducing vehicle fuel consumption by making adjustments to driving style and performance. Studies have shown that savings of between 5 and 20 per cent on fuel consumption can be achieved through eco-driving. In addition to reducing fuel consumption and vehicle emissions, Eco-driving can reduce vehicle operating costs including maintenance and depreciation costs.

In a wider context, the Government's Smarter Travel policy, which is led by my colleague the Minister for Transport, pursues the need to deliver a sustainable travel and transport system by 2020, including in relation to school travel.

Since the publication of the Smarter Travel Policy in February last year, work has begun on developing a national cycle competency accreditation for schoolchildren. In addition, a stakeholder advisory group has been set up in relation to the delivery of the Green Schools Travel Programme.

My colleague the Minister for Transport, continues to provide financial support for the Green Schools Travel Programme through the National Transport Authority. This programme reached 144,000 schoolchildren in 482 schools by the end of 2009 and yielded an average reduction of 22% in children travelling to school by car. The approved national programme aims to reach 260,000 school children by 2012.