Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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242. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of ineligible children refused school transport in County Wexford in each of the years from 2015 to 2017 and to date in 2018. [39878/18]

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

In the 2017/18 school year over 117,000 children, including over 12,000 children with special educational needs, were 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 at a total cost of almost €190 million in 2017.

Under the terms of the Primary and Post-Primary Transport Schemes, children are generally eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria and are attending their nearest school.

Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the current school year where such services are in operation.

Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis only and will be facilitated where spare seats are available after eligible children have been accommodated. Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for the spare seats using an agreed selection process.

Bus Éireann has provided information on the number of ineligible children in County Wexford who completed the application process on time and who were not allocated seats in the last four years, as per the detail in the table:

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