John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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351. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an application by a family (details supplied) under the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58877/22]

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 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.

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.

Children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.

Because of the nature of concessionary transport for non-eligible children and the priority of providing places for eligible children, there may be an excess of demand over supply for concessionary places, in these cases Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for spare seats using an agreed selection process.

Temporary Alleviation Measures is a measure pending completion of the review of the School Transport Scheme that was initially introduced at post-primary level in 2019 and will be continued for the 2022/2023 school year. Under these measures, transport is 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.

Bus Eireann have advised that the family details supplied by the Deputy do not appear on their system and that they will require the names of the pupils concerned and their school of attendance in order to provide a full report on the matter. The Deputy can provide the details to officials in the School Transport Section of my Department at: school_transport@education.gov.ie, where they will be happy to assist with the request.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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352. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if additional places will be offered to families that were unsuccessful in getting a place on the school transport scheme for a route (details supplied) and fulfil the eligibility criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58878/22]

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 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.

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.

Children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time have been accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.

Temporary Alleviation Measures at post-primary level will be continued for the 2022/2023 school year pending completion of the review of the School Transport Scheme. This will mean that transport arrangements will continue to be provided for a number of post-primary students who are attending their second nearest school, who have applied and registered on time and who live more than 4.8km from their nearest school.

Bus Éireann has advised that a number of pupil(s) residing in the area referred to by the Deputy are eligible for school transport under the terms of the scheme but were unsuccessful in obtaining a seat on board a school transport service for the 2022/23 school year as they did not complete the ticket registration process by the closing date of 29 July. Bus Eireann have further advised that the existing services in this area are currently operating at capacity.