Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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162. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will publish the details of the bank account for 2011 (details supplied) showing a balance of €8.195 million as reported; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5019/25]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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163. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will publish the details of the bank account for 2015 (details supplied) showing a balance of €11.99 million as reported; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5020/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 162 and 163 together.

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 172,500 children, are transported daily in approximately 7,900 vehicles across 10,300 routes to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres. this figure includes over 143,800 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 21,700 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.

The scheme is made up of three separate schemes, the school transport scheme for primary, post primary and for children with special educational needs. Transport is also provided for children who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine and those residing in IPAS/EROC centres.

The total cost of the scheme in 2024 was €454m.

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.

The 1975 Summary of Accounting Arrangements form the basis of the payment to Bus Éireann for the operation of the School Transport Scheme. In this regard, the Department reimburses Bus Éireann for a range of costs incurred in the operation and administration of the scheme. Reimbursement to Bus Éireann is on a cost recovery basis.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) carried out an examination of the provision of school transport and completed its report in August 2017 – the C&AG Special Report 98. The C&AG report referenced a surplus in the Transport Management Charge element of the costs. This amount was held by way of an uncommitted reserve by Bus Éireann to be used solely for the purposes of the School Transport Scheme. The balances on the uncommitted reserve are set out in the attached table, showing a closing balance of €8.195m at the end of December 2011, an opening balance of €11.999m at the start of 2015, and a balance of €6.7m at the end of December 2018, when it was repaid fully to the Department.

The school transport scheme is a demand-led service based on the number of eligible children who apply to avail of transport. My Department works with Bus Éireann to analyse costs to the scheme on an on-going basis while each year the company produces an audited statement of account. This ensures that the financial information provided by Bus Éireann is in accordance with the relevant summary of accounting arrangements.

Bus Éireann’s bank accounts are reviewed by independent auditors as part of the annual audit process. Bus Éireann’s School Transport scheme annual costs are set out in the Annual Statement of Account. This Statement of Account is independently audited by the Bus Éireann auditors in accordance with the 1975 Summary of Accounting Arrangements and this report is submitted to my Department on an annual basis. In addition, separate to the audit of the Statement of Account, the Financial Statements for the Bus Éireann group are independently audited on an annual basis.

">School Transport Management Charge Detail Reserve 2018