Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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638. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if additional capacity and an extension of a post-primary school transport route will be sanctioned in respect of a service (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15592/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

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 the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 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 €219m in 2019.

All children who are eligible for school transport and who complete the application 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 and are subject to a number of conditions including that a Transport Application Form is completed and submitted to Bus Éireann, that there is a suitable service, as determined by Bus Éireann, operating into their education centre; that there is spare capacity on the service, that routes will not be extended or altered, additional vehicles will not be introduced, nor will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children travelling on a concessionary basis.

All school transport services are reviewed over the summer months. Arising from this review, routes may be altered, extended or withdrawn depending on the number and location of eligible children who will be availing of school transport for the following school year.

In cases where the Department is satisfied that the nearest school is full, eligibility for school transport will be determined based on the distance that children reside from their next nearest school having regard to ethos and language. To establish that the nearest school is full parents/guardians must provide certain documentary evidence including that an application for enrolment in the nearest school was made within the deadline dates specified by the school and confirmation from the School Authorities that the school was full.   On foot of such correspondence from a number of parents in the area referred to by the Deputy, a number of children have been deemed eligible to the school in question and the pickup point for transport for these children has been extended as they are deemed eligible.