Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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713.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the alternatives supports available to eligible students for school transport when the Department cannot source a bus to provide said transport.[35969/24]

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 2023/24 school year over 163,800 children, including over 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs, and 7,400 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02m.

Over 140,000 mainstream tickets have issued for the 2024/2025 school year, which is already 3% more than the total tickets issued for the full 2023/2024 school year.

The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

Under the terms of the School Transport Primary and Post Primary Schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school. At post primary level, they are eligible where they reside not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre. Distance is determined by the Department/Bus Éireann and rules have regard to ethos and language.

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.

Bus Éireann has recently reported that unfortunately, for a small number of families, difficulties have arisen in some localities with a small number of contracted services. These services were secured for the 2024/2025 school year and due to reported driver/contractor unavailability at short notice, services could not commence as expected.

It has been reported that driver shortages are being experienced in many sectors of the economy and throughout the country. While the situation is dynamic with solutions being found, currently this represents approximately 1% of vehicles operating mainstream school transport services. Bus Éireann has contacted the affected families directly and will maintain communications with them.

With regard to mainstream school transport services, an “Exceptional No Service Interim Grant” payable by the Department, which will be based on the number of days children attend school will be made available to the families. The grant is available to the small number of families who have already received a school transport ticket from Bus Éireann and where difficulties have meant that transport is not be in place for the start of the school year. Bus Éireann have contacted these families directly. Families do not need to make an application for the exceptional payment. Those who have been issued a ticket and do not have a service in place will be contacted by School Transport Section in the Department.

With regard to services under the School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs, a Special Transport Interim Grant has been offered to families of children with special educational needs who, following the application process, are eligible under the terms of the school transport scheme and were awaiting a School Transport service to be put in place.

This grant is a once off payment. The interim grant is offered from the date of application to assist with the cost of private transport arrangements the family had put in place until a transport service is ready to commence. Further information on the Special Transport Interim Grant can be found at: gov.ie/schooltransport.

Work is continuing in order to resolve this matter and Bus Éireann are committed to providing transport to these students as quickly as is possible.

Bus Éireann has put in place a dedicated customer care call centre to assist families specifically with School Transport queries during the busy summer period. Families that have queries can contact the call centre on: LoCall 0818 919 910. Operating hours are usually 09.00 – 17.00 Monday to Friday.

Families can also contact Bus Éireann by submitting a query via the following link: www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=523

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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714.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a school bus ticket will be issued to a person (details supplied).[35980/24]

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 2023/24 school year over 163,800 children, including over 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs, and 7,400 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02m.

Over 140,000 mainstream tickets have issued for the 2024/2025 school year, which is already 3% more than the total tickets issued for the full 2023/2024 school year.

The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

Under the terms of the School Transport Schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school. At post primary level, they are eligible where they reside not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre. Distance is determined by the Department/Bus Éireann and rules have regard to ethos and language.

Bus Éireann have advised that this pupil is eligible for transport and has applied and paid on time for the 2024/25 school year. They have further advised that they have been scheduled to a service and will be receiving a ticket for this service in the coming days.

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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715.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if, under the new pilot projects that form part of the school transport scheme 2030 report, her Department will accept applications from schools to participate in any further iterations of pilots taking place in other areas of the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[35993/24]

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 2023/24 school year over 163,800 children, including over 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs, and 7,400 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02m.

Over 140000 mainstream tickets have issued for the 2024/2025 school year, which is already 3% more than the total tickets issued for the full 2023/2024 school year.

As the Deputy is aware, a review of the School Transport Scheme has been completed. This review was conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness, and sustainability and to ensure it services students and their families adequately.

The School Transport Scheme 2030 report, which was published earlier this year, marks the largest review of the School Transport Scheme since it was established in 1967. The Government is committed to working to achieve the report’s recommendation of expanding access to the scheme so that an additional 100,000 pupils can be carried by 2030. Throughout the review, the value of the School Transport Scheme to both families and in supporting wider Government policies has been very apparent. In summary, school transport not only plays an important part in supporting children's access to education, but it also aligns to wider Government objectives.

Overall, the recommended changes to the future operation of the Scheme include expansion of the current eligibility criteria, addressing current operational challenges and moving towards better integration with public transport to ensure the best value for money to the Exchequer.

A phased implementation of the review’s recommendations is beginning in September 2024. As indicated at the time of the launch of the School Transport Review, this will include a shared effort between my Department and the Department of Transport, supported by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Bus Éireann, to pilot and introduce greater integration of existing public transport networkswith post-primary school transport routes. Two areas have been identified for these initial pilot projects:

• One in the Limerick/Shannon area
• One in the Roscommon/Athlone area.

It is intended, subject to resources, to commence implementing the revised eligibility criteria in the 2025/2026 school year.