Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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239. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children with special educational needs that applied to the school transport scheme in County Louth for the 2017-2018 school year primary; the number deemed successful in meeting the criteria for a place; the number awarded concessionary places; and if his attention has been drawn to cases in which children are without a place on existing school transport. [39384/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

During the 2016/17 school year almost 116,000 children, including some 12,000 children with special educational needs, were 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 with special educational needs are eligible for school transport if they are attending the nearest school that is resourced to meet their special educational needs.

Bus Éireann has confirmed that, to date, 544 applications for children with special educational needs were received for schools in County Louth for the 2017/18 school year. A total of 433 tickets have been issued to children who are eligible for school transport and 2 tickets to children who applied for transport on a concessionary basis.

There are a further 109 applications which were submitted in recent weeks and these are being processed and some new services are currently out to tender. Bus Éireann hope to accommodate these children as soon as possible and in the meantime will keep the families informed of progress.

The terms of the school transport schemes are applied equitably on a national basis.