Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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137. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 778 of 3 November 2020, the number of those eligible for school transport applicants by county who have not yet secured a place on a bus due to late payment of fees in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35669/20]

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.

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.

Bus Éireann has confirmed the number of eligible pupils by county who applied late for school transport and have not yet secured a place on a service, and these figures are provided in the attached document. Please note that the figures are at a given point in time and are subject to change as Bus Éireann continue to offer tickets where capacity may exist.