Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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244. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a rural bus service provided by Bus Éireann continues and will continue to serve a school (details supplied) and its environs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44932/18]

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

The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

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.

Children are generally eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria and are attending their nearest school.

Bus Éireann has advised that there is a school transport service operating into the school in question for the 2018/19 school year.

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