Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review correspondence (details supplied); if refunds will be issued; if an additional service will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42075/17]

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.

Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are generally eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest school.

Where families are not eligible for school transport they may apply on a concessionary basis only.  Concessionary transport is subject to a number of terms and conditions including the availability of spare seats on an existing service and payment of the annual charge. Under the terms of the School Transport Schemes additional vehicles will not be introduced, nor will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children travelling on a concessionary basis.

The availability of concessionary transport may vary from year to year, is not available on public scheduled services and cannot be guaranteed for the duration of a child’s post primary school education cycle.

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

Bus Éireann has confirmed that the refunds in question have been processed.