Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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323. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the engagement that she has had with Bus Éireann and private bus operators regarding the lack of places for pupils availing of school transport. [45604/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of my Department. In the past school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 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 €289m in 2021.

In July 2022, Government announced funding for the waiving of school transport scheme fees for the coming school year as part of a wider package of cost of living measures.

Ticket registration for the 2022/23 school year closed on 29 July by which time almost 130,000 applications/registrations were received for mainstream school transport. This figure includes 44,299 new applications as well as roll-overs from the previous school year.

My Department officials engage with Bus Éireann staff on a daily basis with regard to the operation of the School Transport Scheme. In addition, quarterly strategic, and monthly operational meetings are held throughout the year.

Agreed Performance Indicators for the operation of the scheme are set out in the Service Level Agreement and this forms the basis of the regular meetings held between the Department of Education and Bus Éireann.

Officials also hold regular meetings as the need arises which include but is not limited to: planning for additional school transport places, the management of transport provision for children arriving from Ukraine, the implications that increasing fuel costs may have on the provision of school transport services and the estimated cost to the scheme of waiving the school transport annual ticket charge.

I have met with Bus Éireann on a number of occasions in recent weeks to discuss progress on the allocation of tickets for the 2022/2023 school year. Senior officials from my Department were in attendance at these meetings as were senior officials from Bus Éireann. In addition to these meetings I have received regular updates from Bus Éireann as they continue to process applications and to issue tickets as soon as extra buses and drivers are sourced and become available to provide transport for the higher numbers qualifying for the service.