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 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

In addition, school transport scheme services were provided for over 5,400 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.

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

Already over 132,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 12% when compared with the same time last year. This number of tickets has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year.

The National Council for Special Education acts in an advisory role to the Department of Education 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.

The child referred to by the Deputy is eligible for school transport under the terms of the Scheme and is currently availing of a dedicated school transport service.

School Transport Section of my Department is currently liaising with Bus Éireann with regard to the possible re-organising of the service for the child referred to by the Deputy and will liaise directly with the family in this regard.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/23 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were 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 5,400 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.

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

Already over 133,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 12% when compared with the start of the 2022/2023 school year. The number of tickets issued so far has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year.

As mentioned in question number 191 of 10 October 2023, the school transport fleet is made up of both contractors and Bus Éireann vehicles. Bus Éireann has provided the following information in relation to average fleet for the years requested by the Deputy. Bus Éireann school transport scheme benefits from the availability of cascaded vehicles from the wider Bus Éireann PSO fleet for use on direct provision services, due to the extended operating life of vehicles used on school transport services. The 2023/2024 fleet is estimated as any additional fleet is assumed will cascade in to the school transport fleet at the end of 2023, and will be reflected in the 2024/2025 school transport fleet.