Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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292. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason children attending ASD pre-schools are not entitled to a special transport grant unlike those enrolled in ASD classes in primary and secondary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27104/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, 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 and Youth.

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 National Council for Special Education acts in an advisory role to the Department of Education and Youth 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.

Early intervention classes for children with autism are pre-school classes situated in mainstream primary schools or in special schools. They were established by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in response to an identified need in a locality and following engagement between the NCSE, the school, families of pre-school children with autism and the Department of Education and Youth.

Schools can access further resources from the NCSE, including transport, if required. An application for transport may be submitted for a pupil in an Early Intervention ASD class and transport will be approved where the pupil has an ASD diagnosis and is attending the nearest Early Intervention Class to their home resourced to meet their needs.

Where a suitable transport service cannot be provided to an eligible pupil, the Special Transport Grant is available for the time they are enrolled in that class.

When the pupil moves out of the Early Intervention setting and into primary school - whether it be mainstream or special setting - a new application for transport must be submitted, which will again be assessed under the criteria of the School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs to the nearest special school/class at primary level from their home.

Other pre-school classes that are not situated in primary or special schools do not come under the remit of the Department of Education and Youth and are therefore not covered by the terms of the School Transport Scheme.