Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1064. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the school transport scheme will be made available to students who live in Northern Ireland who wish to attend secondary school here; the way this can be facilitated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41022/21]

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 2020/2021 school year over 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.

Under the terms of the Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme, a pupil is eligible for transport they reside 4.8 kilometres or more from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre having regard to ethos and language.

Traditionally a small number of pupils travelling from Northern Ireland have been facilitated primarily with concessionary school transport to schools in this jurisdiction. This transport is dependent on the availability of spare seats, is subject to the appropriate charge and the pupils must make their own way to a pick up point in this jurisdiction.

Bus Éireann operate the school transport scheme on behalf of my Department. In this regard families concerned should liaise with the relevant Bus Éireann local office to establish the position with regard to the availability of transport.