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 of Education. In the current school year over 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for over 3,800 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.

The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €332.2m.

Under the terms of the Department’s School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8kms from their nearest Post Primary School as determined by the Department and Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are not eligible for school transport may be considered for transport on a concessionary basis in accordance with the terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme and subject to the following conditions:

- an application is made by the deadline date

- there is an existing service in place

- there is spare capacity on the service

It is recognised that all pupils issued with tickets will not travel every morning and every evening.In addition, certain after school activities may also result in pupils not travelling on certain days.

Bus Éireann organises for vehicles to be full to capacity with tickets based on applications received and based on the seating capacity of the vehicle.For safety reasons, it is not possible to issue additional tickets over and above the seating capacity of the vehicle which could result in a potential overload situation arising and all pupils not being carried on the service.

Bus Éireann has advised that the child referred to by the Deputy is not eligible for school transport as they do not attend their nearest school therefore they do not meet the criteria as set out in the post primary school transport scheme.

Bus Éireann also advise that the existing school transport service is currently operating to capacity and that there are no seats available. The child referred was unsuccessful in obtaining a concessionary seat for the 2022/23 school year. The current service is operating at full capacity, however, If a seat does become available, the family referred to by the Deputy will be contacted directly by their Local Bus Éireann office.