Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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382. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the concerns raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding the lack of sufficient school bus stops in Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8090/25]

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 daily 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 in 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 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.

Bus Éireann is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes and endeavours, within available resources, to ensure that each eligible child has a reasonable level of school transport service in the context of the Scheme nationally.

Bus Eireann have advised that due to traffic in the area mentioned by the Deputy, it would not be possible to add a stop as requested as it would add additional time constraints to the existing times if it were to pick up and drop off at locations referred to and may inconvenience existing children on the service.