John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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153. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will confirm if all of the recent issues surrounding the school transport scheme which necessitated the setting up of a dedicated help line have been resolved in full; the steps that have been taken to ensure that these issues do not repeat next year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37075/14]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that Bus Éireann has confirmed that the issues which necessitated the setting up of the dedicated helpline have been resolved and the helpline was closed on 19th September 2014.

I would like to explain to the Deputy that this year, with the introduction of a comprehensive new school transport online applications and payments system, every family who wished to avail of school transport services was required to register on the system. This included both existing families and families applying for the first time, amounting to some 75,000 families.

This was a once-off scenario and Bus Éireann advises that in future only those families applying for school transport for the first time will be obliged to register. This can be expected annually to be less than a fifth of the volume encountered this year.

The introduction of a comprehensive new IT system particularly on the scale involved was likely to encounter some teething problems, and these were addressed promptly by Bus Éireann when they arose, but the comparatively high level of necessary public interaction with the system at the same time further complicated matters in a unique set of circumstances.

The dedicated help line provided assistance to families who had technical issues using the new system, and created more capacity for local school transport offices to address the more traditional questions that families have relating to the operation of school bus services in general such as ticketing enquiries, the availability of seats, and timetable queries.

Even so, and although the level of public interaction was anticipated this year and additional staff, as well as a dedicated help line, were put in place by Bus Éireann to handle related enquiries, it is acknowledged that some families still encountered difficulties.

Bus Éireann appreciates the patience and understanding shown by the families and sincerely regrets any inconvenience or hardship caused.

Looking to the future it can be appreciated that the new School Transport online Application and Ticket Payment system affords greater convenience and transparency in school transport related interactions than ever before and will enable families to manage all aspects of their applications for school transport, including registration, amendments and payments, using contemporary online features.