Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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200. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a bus service will be provided for a school (details supplied) in view of its growth in recent years and the resulting increased demand for such a service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7644/20]

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

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.

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

All children who are eligible for school transport and who complete the application and payment process on time are accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who complete the application process on time, are considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats. Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for the spare seats using an agreed selection process.

School transport scheme services operating for the 2020/21 school year will be determined by the number of children who complete the application and payment process on time and are deemed eligible for school transport.