Written answers

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Department of Education and Skills

School Transport

10:00 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 214: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the annual cost of the school transport scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15226/11]

Photo of Ciarán CannonCiarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The 2011 estimate for school transport services is €180 million. Expenditure on school transport provision since 1998 is as follows:

YearOutturn (millions)
1998€51.201
1999€57.978
2000€65.082
2001€77.058
2002€95.986
2003€101.733
2004€109.846
2005€122.157
2006€159.685
2007€172.106
2008€185.725
2009€177.567
2010€181.409

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Question 215: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will delay the introduction of the dropping of the central/closed school rule for school transport in view of the financial hardship it will cause and the difficulty in getting transport in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15235/11]

Photo of Ciarán CannonCiarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Changes to school transport services were announced in the 2011 Budget by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and derive from recommendations in the Value for Money Review of the scheme. Given the major financial constraints facing the country, I regret that I cannot reverse the changes to school transport as announced by the previous Government in Budget 2011. We all have to understand the legacy of economic mismanagement which the last Government gave to the country. It is important to stress that there are a number of dimensions to the cessation of the Closed School Rule (CSR). The first of these, which will be implemented from September 2011, involves the uniform application of the distance criterion to all pupils travelling under the primary transport scheme, including those travelling under the CSR. This means that children residing less than 3.2 kilometres from their school of amalgamation will be deemed ineligible for school transport. In such cases, these children may apply for concessionary transport. The second element of the change is scheduled to take effect in September 2012 and will apply only in the case of pupils commencing their primary education from that date. This second element will restrict school transport eligibility for those pupils entering in September 2012, to pupils who meet the distance eligibility criterion and are travelling to their nearest school. Available statistics, based on sampling undertaken as part of the Value for Money Review, indicate that the impact of this change will be limited as the majority of pupils categorised under the CSR are in fact attending their nearest school and will not be affected by this change. Before implementing this second main change which is proposed for 2012, my Department has requested Bus Éireann to conduct a detailed analysis of the "on the ground" impact for individual schools and the rural communities they serve. This analysis will be based on the most up to date information available on current school transport usage patterns and I expect to have this information available to me this summer. I will then have an opportunity to carefully examine the likely affects of this change well in advance of the 2012 implementation date.

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