Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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527. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria that can be used to request an amendment to an existing route in view of the fact that most school catchment areas are based on historic information. [27746/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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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.

In general, children are eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria and are attending their nearest school 

Bus Éireann is responsible for the planning and routing of each dedicated school transport service which is determined by the number and location of children who are eligible for school transport each year.

Where practicable, and subject to considerations of cost and logistics, routes are planned to avoid an eligible child attending a primary school having to travel more than 2.4 kilometres to or from a pick up/set down point or to have travel and waiting times in excess of 1.5 hours per day; at post primary level the travel distance is 3.2 kilometres to or from a pick up/ set down point and travel and waiting time is 2.5 hours.

Parents of children, who are eligible for school transport, should liaise with their local Bus Éireann office if they feel their school bus service is operating outside of the above guidelines.

The terms of the School Transport Scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.