Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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235. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of introducing free travel for children availing of the school transport scheme. [4729/20]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. 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 the current school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, are 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 €219m in 2019.

In 2019, receipts from school transport charges amounted to some €17m or about 9% of the total cost of the scheme provided by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Introducing free travel for children availing of the school transport scheme would result in this amount of €17m being the additional cost on the scheme.