Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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371. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address a matter regarding school transport for persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54960/17]

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

Currently over 115,000 children, including almost 12,000 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 the Post Primary School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Bus Éireann has advised that the pupils referred to by the Deputy reside under the distance criteria and are therefore not eligible for school transport under the terms of the Scheme.

Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply to Bus Éireann on a concessionary basis for school transport on a dedicated service subject to a number of conditions.

The service referred to by the Deputy is a public scheduled services, and concessionary seats are not available on these services.

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