Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

181. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if €54,000 will be allocated to provide a critical bus service in Navan, County Meath (details supplied). [15154/19]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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.

The purpose of my Department's Post Primary 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 general, children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post-primary school. 

All children who are eligible for school transport and who complete the application process on time will be accommodated under the terms of my Department's School Transport Scheme in the 2019/2020 school year.