Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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400. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action that is being taken to address the current delays in the provision of SEN school transport in County Tipperary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53281/22]

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, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m 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.

The Department is very conscious of the specialised nature of transport provision for children with special educational needs and this is reflected in the approach that is taken in the provision of transport services. The National Council for Special Education acts in an advisory role to the Department of Education and Skills on the suitability of placements for children with special educational needs. Under the terms of the School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs, the Department will consider the report of the Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO). School transport is provided to children with special educational needs who are attending the nearest school to their place of residence that is or can be resourced to meet their educational needs, as identified by the SENO.

Where there is no service in place, a new service is sanctioned, this means a procurement / vetting process is required while in many instances the school is also sanctioned to employ a transport escort, and this necessarily takes time to put in place. By accepting applications year-round, the Department can ensure that children with special educational needs receive the transport they require.

To ensure the efficient delivery of services for children on Special Educations Needs school transport, Bus Éireann assesses each application to assess the options available. Where children can be facilitated on an existing service, applications are processed immediately, and arrangements put in place with families involved.

In circumstances where there is no existing suitable service available to meet a child's needs, my department may offer a Special Transport Grant (STG) towards the cost of private transport arrangements until a suitable service becomes available.

Bus Éireann communicate with families where transport has been sanctioned, if there are delays in establishing a service, they will advise them as such and advise that they can apply for a Special Transport Grant to the Department of Education. The grant will be payable retrospectively for the period from the start of the school year to the time the service is established.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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401. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of outstanding school transport applications for the 2022-2023 school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53299/22]

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 last 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.

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.

School Transport 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.

To date over 126,000 tickets have issued to children travelling on mainstream School Transport Scheme services, of which over 88,800 are tickets issued to eligible pupils. Numbers are still being finalised for the 2022/23 school as applications continue to be processed.

All children who are eligible and who completed the application and registration process on time will be accommodated in the 2022 school year. In addition, pending completion of the outcome of the full review of the School Transport Scheme, Temporary Alleviation Measures at post-primary level be continued for the 2022/2023 school year. Under these measures transport will provided for post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school and who applied by the 29th April and registered for a ticket by the 29th July.

Any pupils/students who do not meet these criteria are deemed not eligible, or otherwise known as concessionary, applicants and are allocated a ticket based on the availability of a seat on when all eligible children have been catered for.

Bus Éireann will 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. Where additional services may need to be put in place for eligible children, any capacity on these services will be offered to concessionary applicants.

Following discussions with Minister McGrath and officials in DPER as part of the budgetary process some additional funding has been approved for the scheme which will allow officials in consultation with Bus Éireann to consider and evaluate where temporary additional capacity may be available.

The initial focus will be where families applied on time and who previously held concessionary tickets, to alleviate the impact of the increased demands on the scheme for those families.However, it is important to stress that this is subject to capacity considerations. Constraints in sourcing vehicles and drivers in certain areas of the country may also mean that it may take a number of weeks to explore solutions for additional capacity.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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402. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department is considering auditing the number of times that school transport tickets are used by the children issued with them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53300/22]

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. The cost in 2021 was over €289m.

Under the terms of the School Transport Schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kms from and are attending their nearest national school. At post primary level, they are eligible where they reside not less than 4.8 kms from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre. Distance is determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, and rules have regard to ethos and language.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Department commenced a review of the School Transport Scheme in February 2021. The review is being conducted with a view to examining the current scheme and how it currently operates, its broader effectiveness and sustainability and that it adequately supports the provision of services to students and their families.

The review encompasses the School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs. The review of the Primary and Post-Primary School Transport Schemes will examine each element of the schemes and include eligibility criteria, trends, costs, cost drivers, and overall effectiveness in meeting the objectives of the schemes. Wider considerations relating to operation of the scheme are now taking place in the next phase of the review which is currently underway. The Steering Group will continue to report to me on an interim basis as the review progresses.

In addition, to the ongoing School Transport review, Bus Éireann is commencing a pilot E-Ticketing project. Based on the outcome of this pilot project, it is intended that a tender competition for national roll-out of eTicketing on all school transport scheme services will follow. This will provide my Department and Bus Éireann with the type of information referred to by the Deputy.