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

Currently over 113,000 children, including almost 11,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,500 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 eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest school as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

The child referred to by the Deputy is eligible for school transport however Bus Éireann has advised that the family was late in both applying and paying for school transport. As the service was operating to capacity at the time of payment no additional tickets can be issued.

Children for whom late applications and late payments are received cannot be guaranteed a seat on a school transport service.

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