Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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233. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 128 of 26 November 2013, if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there was a surplus and or profit being used for day-to-day operations of the Bus Éireann business according to a special report on school transport by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50205/19]

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 2018/2019 school year over 117,500 children, including over 13,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €200m in 2018.

The 1975 Summary of Accounting Arrangements form the basis of the payment to Bus Éireann for the operation of the School Transport Scheme. In this regard, the Department reimburses Bus Éireann for a range of costs incurred in the operation and administration of the scheme.Re-imbursement to Bus Éireann is on a cost recovery basis and the Department does not pay any profit to Bus Éireann relating to the School Transport Scheme. Actual expenditure is finalised in the Bus Éireann annual statement of account which is independently audited by the Bus Éireann auditors in accordance with the 1975 Summary of Accounting Arrangements.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) carried out an examination of the provision of school transport and completed its report in August 2017, the C&AG Special Report 98. The C&AG report referenced a surplus in the Transport Management Charge element of the costs. This amount was held by way of an uncommitted reserve by Bus Éireann to be used solely for the purposes of the School Transport Scheme. Any surplus was sealed in the school transport scheme and the uncommitted reserve was repaid fully to the Department in December 2018.