Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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265. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she can identify each school that provides school transport through Bus Éireann, and the stops each of these travels through on their routes, in tabular form. [36039/24]

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

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.

All school transport services are reviewed over the summer months, based on the applications received for the new school year. Arising from this review, routes may be altered, extended or withdrawn depending on the number and location of eligible children who will be availing of school transport for the following school year.

In the 2023/2024 school year the scheme was operated with over 7,400 vehicles on over 9,900 routes. Routes are subject to change in line with profile of pupils presenting for transport annually. Therefore, It is not possible to provide details of all stops along these routes.