Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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275. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the special transport grant has been refused for a person (details supplied). [35217/17]

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.

The main purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme for children with Special Educational Needs is to support the transport to and from school of children with special educational needs arising from a diagnosed disability.

Bus Éireann is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes and endeavours, within available resources, to ensure that each eligible child has a reasonable level of school transport service.

An application for school transport for the child in question was received in March 2014.

At that time Bus Éireann advised that the child could be accommodated on an existing taxi service that was timetabled to provide a home pick up and set down.

Officials in my Department have been in contact with the family in question and remain satisfied that the level of service available is reasonable in the context of the Scheme nationally.

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