Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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618. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the €25.50 grant will be extended for driving a child to school to parents in rural areas in which no bus service is available. [22411/20]

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

Under the terms of the School Transport Scheme primary children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kms from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. Post Primary children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kms from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time will be accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation. Where there is no service available the Remote Area Grant will be offered towards the cost of providing private transport for children in remote areas.

In the first instance an application must be made on the Bus Éireann website for School Transport (www.buseireann.ie) before the closing date (late applications are accepted but if pupils are entitled to the grant they will not receive it for the 2020/2021 school year as the closing date was the last Friday in April 2020).

If Bus Eireann confirm that a pupil is eligible for school transport and there is no service operating from where they reside then the pupil may be entitled to the Remote Area Grant. The grant is paid at the end of each school year as it is based on school attendance. Where there is no transport service available for eligible children, Bus Éireann will forward the applicants’ details to the Department, who will then contact families directly regarding the Remote Area Grant.