Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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193. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children that receive a school transport remote area grant; the value of grants awarded in the last full school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38133/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/21 school year more than 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.

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.

An eligible child for whom no transport service is available may, following an application for transport within the prescribed time limits, receive a Remote Area Grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements

An application for transport must be submitted for each subsequent child requiring transport, even in cases where the family is already in receipt of the Remote Area Grant.

The grant, which is payable annually at the end of the school year, is generally based on the distance a family resides from their school of eligibility.

The maximum daily allowance payable under the Remote Area Grant is €5.10 per day, regardless of the number of children from the same family, travelling to particular schools. For families with more than one eligible child the grant amount will be calculated by reference to the child with the highest attendance record.

The total value of the Remote Area Grant for the 2019/20 school year amounted to just under €700,000 being paid to approximately 1,600 families.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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194. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children qualifying for the school transport remote area grant under each of the five distance categories in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38134/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/21 school year more than 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.

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.

An eligible child for whom no transport service is available may, following an application for transport within the prescribed time limits, receive a Remote Area Grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements

An application for transport must be submitted for each subsequent child requiring transport, even in cases where the family is already in receipt of the Remote Area Grant.

The grant, which is payable annually at the end of the school year, is generally based on the distance a family resides from their school of eligibility.

There are just over 1,700 families eligible for the Remote Area Grant for the 2020/21 school year. The breakdown of rates payable to those families is as follow;

The maximum daily allowance payable under the Remote Area Grant is €5.10 per day, regardless of the number of children from the same family, travelling to particular schools. For families with more than one eligible child the grant amount will be calculated by reference to the child with the highest attendance record.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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195. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the investment in the school transport scheme bus fleet in each year from 2010 to 2020; the number of new buses added or replaced on the scheme in each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38135/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the current school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.

Bus Éireann have advised that the number of new buses added or replaced to directly service the School Transport Scheme in each year excluding services which are contracted by Bus Éireann amounts to 258 buses. It should be noted that Bus Éireann is directly responsible for just 14% of routes while 86% of routes are run by private contractors under contract to Bus Éireann for the provision of services.

These buses were transferred from Road Passenger services as replacement to School buses which were retired at the maximum age of 20 years. In addition, 20 buses were purchased since 2010.

The numbers transferred or purchased per year are as follows;

Bus Éireann has also advised that the current number of fleet directly deployed by Bus Éireann for services to the School Transport Scheme is 331.