Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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373. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 232 of 7 October 2021, the progress that has been made between her Department and an agency (details supplied) as outlined in the reply; if the times referred to have been looked at or reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3096/22]

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 current school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 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 €289 million in 2021.

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 is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes and endeavours, within available resources, to ensure that each eligible child has a reasonable level of school transport service in the context of the Scheme nationally.

Following a review of the service mentioned by the Deputy, Bus Éireann have advised that it is currently tendering for a new service to facilitate revised arrangements for the family in question which will include a later morning pick up and an earlier drop off time.

They have also advised that the current service that accommodates the family will remain in place until the tendering process is complete and that the revised service will be operational within the coming weeks.