Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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315. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the engagement her Department has had with parents of students attending a school (details supplied) who are without school transport; the engagement her Department has had with Bus Eireann regarding the procurement of transport for these children; the status of the procurement process for such transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5505/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 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 expenditure on the scheme in 2024 was €512m.

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.

Both the Department and Bus Éireann are very conscious of the specialised nature of transport provision for pupils with special educational needs under the School Transport Scheme and all services are planned to meet the individual requirements of children travelling.

Bus Éireann continue to report particular issues with resource availability (drivers/contractors) in certain areas. This is against a backdrop of significant shortages of drivers in the labour market overall and competing demands for drivers to deliver additional public transport initiatives such as Connecting Ireland and Bus Connects/Local Link services.

Bus Éireann has advised that there are 6 individual services to the school referred to by the Deputy which are currently out for tender, some of these routes have gone to tender numerous times with no contractors submitting a bid to operate the service. 1 service is a shared service for 3 pupils, which has also gone to tender numerous times with no contractor submitting a bid to operate the service.

Bus Éireann is providing those families affected by the contractor/driver issues with regular updates on the status of their transport service. Work is continuing in order to resolve this matter and Bus Éireann are committed to providing transport as quickly as is possible.

A Special Transport Interim Grant is available to the families concerned as they are eligible under the terms of the school transport scheme and are 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 have to put in place until a transport service is ready to commence.

Further information on the Special Transport Interim Grant can be found at: