Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

491. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will clarify the position going forward surrounding escorts on school buses for special needs pupils; if he will maintain the present escort system in a case (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27225/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

Currently almost 116,000 children, including some 12,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.

Under the terms of my Department's School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs, children are eligible for transport where they are attending the nearest recognised school that is or can be resourced to meet their special educational needs. 

Under the terms of this Scheme, the Department also provides funding to schools for the employment of escorts to accompany children with special educational needs whose care and safety needs require this level of support while they travel to and from school.

Applications for transport provision, under the terms of the Scheme, should only be completed in circumstances where children are not in a position to avail of standard school transport services.

Parents may apply for standard school transport services for their children, however, escorts are not a feature of mainstream school transport provision.

Department officials are liaising with the family and Bus Éireann in relation to the school transport provision for the children in question.