Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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621. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the preparation work undertaken to ensure that school buses and bus routes that service schools will have enough capacity when term commences; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20293/20]

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

Earlier this week I announced a comprehensive plan detailing a package of measures and resources to be provided to facilitate schools in re-opening.  I also published a detailed roadmap for the full return to school. This roadmap set outs how schools will reopen for all students from the end of August.  It has been developed in line with public health advice issued by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), the Roadmap for Society and Business, and follows comprehensive and intensive engagement with all relevant stakeholders including Bus Éireann, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the National Transport Authority on the logistical considerations that arise in planning for the operation of school transport services for the reopening of our schools. 

School Transport Scheme services operated by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department will fully operate as normal, in line with public health advice, when schools re-open for the 2020/2021 school year with the appropriate hygiene and other measures in place.   

In line with normal practice, all children who are eligible for school transport and who complete the application and payment process on time will be accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.  Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who complete the application and payment process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated.