Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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126. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to providing additional school transport for a student (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48055/19]

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. The purpose of the 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 if they meet the distance criteria and are attending their nearest school. 

Bus Éireann endeavours to ensure that a reasonable level of transport service is provided for each eligible child. In general, transport for children with special educational needs is provided from home to school and from school to home during normal school opening and closing times.

Bus Éireann has advised that they can accommodate the child referred to by the Deputy on a school transport service to their home on Wednesday afternoons  but  it is not possible to facilitate alternative school transport arrangements.