Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

482. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 820 of 3 November 2020, if a deadline will be provided by which all eligible applicants for the reimbursement of the agreed mileage rate under the July provision transportation grant will be reimbursed, in view of the fact that some families have been waiting four months for the repayment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35394/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. 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.

With regard to transport arrangements for the Summer Programme, my Department committed to providing grant funding to support families with the cost of transport arrangements for those children who were eligible for school transport and who were approved to participate in the school based Summer Programme.

Schools were required to identify children who availed of a School Transport service or who were in receipt of a grant. School Transport Section issued correspondance to schools outlining what was required in order to process such payments.

School Transport Section has commenced processing payment of these grants. I can assure the Deputy that the grant payments for the Summer Programme is being prioritised by officials at this time and payments will continue to be processed in the coming weeks.