Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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223. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the additional funding that was approved for the school transport scheme as part of the budgetary process; and if any additional funding was allocated in Cork to add additional capacity to cater for pupils who did not get a seat on school transport for the 2022/2023 school year. [9300/23]

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 €338.9m.

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 are now accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.

In addition, temporary alleviation measures have been continued for the current 2022/23 school year, pending completion of the review and this means that 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 29^thApril 2022 and registered for a ticket by the 29^thJuly 2022.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, are 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.

As part of the budgetary process, some additional funding was approved for the scheme which allowed officials in consultation with Bus Éireann to consider and evaluate where temporary additional capacity may be available.

However, it is important to stress that this was subject to capacity considerations. It has become increasingly difficult to source additional contractors due to the lack of availability of buses, drivers, and an increase in fuel and maintenance costs.

There are now currently over 130,000 children on primary and post-primary mainstream school transport scheme services. This is an increase of over 26,000 tickets issued on the 2021/2022 school year. Families from all counties have benefited from an increase in tickets issued for the current school year as Bus Éireann have sourced additional capacity where it has been possible to do so. Bus Éireann have confirmed that over 17,000 mainstream tickets have issued in Cork, which is an increase of over 350 tickets since October 2022.

In addition to funding for increased capacity on the school transport scheme, funding has been secured to address the impact of the rise in the cost of fuel for contractors operating on the Department’s school transport scheme.

As the School Transport Scheme is demand led, the exact cost of additional capacity for the 2022/2023 school year it is not yet known.