Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the post-primary school transport service does not give consideration to one aspect (details supplied) when assessing if a child is eligible for the scheme; his views on whether it is fair not to consider this aspect in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10082/19]

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

There are currently over 117,500 children, including over 13,000 children with special educational needs, transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.

Under the terms of the Department's Post-Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside 4.8 kilometres or more from their nearest education centre, as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. For the purposes of school transport provision, ethos relates to the religious ethos of minority religion schools, while language relates to the Irish or English language.

The child referred to by the Deputy is not attending their nearest post-primary education centre/school and is therefore not eligible for transport under the terms of the scheme.

The terms of the school transport scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.