Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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311. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will make changes to the school bus route servicing an area (details supplied) [24750/23]

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 149,000 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. There has been an increase of 21% tickets issued to eligible students and 38% tickets issued on a concessionary basis in the current 2022/23 school year compared to the 2021/22 school year.

In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for over 5,200 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.

The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m.

The issues raised by the Deputy have been reviewed recently by Bus Éireann. The Local Area Inspector has reviewed the existing pickup point and has deemed this pickup point as safe.

There is an onus of responsibility on parents/guardians to arrange to bring their children to and from the pickup point of a school bus service, taking whatever safety precautions they consider sufficient in doing so, and accompanying the children to ensure their safety.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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312. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will alter the designated secondary school for an area (details supplied) with regard to school bus tickets. [24751/23]

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 149,000 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. There has been an increase of 21% tickets issued to eligible students and 38% tickets issued on a concessionary basis in the current 2022/23 school year compared to the 2021/22 school year.

In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for over 5,200 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 post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their 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.

Bus Éireann has advised that pupils residing in the area referred to by the Deputy are not attending their closest post primary centre and as such deemed mainstream concessionary pupils to their school of attendance.

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.

Parents of a child wishing to avail of school transport services are required to apply on-line on Bus Éireann website at www.buseireann.ie

For 2023/24 school year, the closing date for new applications was Friday 28 April 2023. Any new applications made after the closing date are considered late applications and families are not guaranteed a seat. The Bus Éireann family portal will be open to accept payments/medical card details from the 3 April 2023 until 9 June 2023. Payment made after the deadline date are late applications and a ticket may not be available to families at that stage.