Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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412. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will make arrangements with Bus Éireann to facilitate families to have the option of making payments on school transport fees on a monthly direct debit basis in order to help families that find the cost of making such payments in two instalments difficult; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26569/17]

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.

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.

Annual charging, as opposed to term charging, was introduced in the 2009/10 school year with provision for the family payment to be made in two instalments in July and December. Families with children who are eligible for school transport and who hold valid medical cards (GMS Scheme) are exempt from the annual charge. Eligible children with special educational needs also travel free of charge.

Invoices are issued by Bus Éireann in July of each year and each child who travels is allocated a seat for the school year.

Annual charging has enabled Bus Éireann to streamline the payments system and plan the allocation of tickets on an annual rather than term basis thus ensuring that route planning and seating arrangements were managed in a more efficient and cost effective manner.

Given the complexity of the system and the necessity to plan for and provide seats for each eligible child availing of school transport services on vehicles for the full school year, it would not be practical to issue invoices, collect monies and allocate seating on a monthly basis.