Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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336. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if it is proposed to allow persons aged 70 and over, subject to appropriate medical checks, to undertake school transport work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28836/25]

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 retirement age for school bus drivers has been set by Bus Éireann at 70 years of age, which also applies to all Bus Éireann road passenger services.

The policy and criteria also apply to drivers nominated by private operators who operate services as part of the School Transport Scheme, provided they hold the requisite license and satisfy an annual medical examination until they retire at age 70.

The Road Safety Authority, under the remit of the Department of Transport, committed to reviewing the upper age limit of drivers as it relates to larger vehicles/school buses. This review is now complete.

Under the new Programme for Government (PFG), Government has committed to "Carry out an independent assessment on the feasibility of removing the exclusion of drivers aged over 70 from the School Transport Scheme".

The Department is engaging with the Department of Transport and with Bus Éireann on this matter.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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337. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress to date in increasing the number of drivers available for school transport work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28837/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The school transport scheme is a demand led scheme based on the number of children who apply. The scheme is operated using a mix of Bus Éireann owned vehicles and directly recruited drivers, and private contractors who recruit their own drivers to operate on the scheme.

As part of the operation of the scheme, Bus Éireann manages the procurement tender process and contract management arrangements to include services provided by contractors under the School Transport Scheme. There are currently over 8,000 vehicles operating on the scheme.

The competitive procurement process is conducted in accordance with the negotiated procedure under national and EU procurement legislation.

At the beginning of the current school year, Bus Éireann reported particular issues with availability of drivers and contractors. This included a number of contractors handing back contracts unexpectedly, and the receipt of zero bids for contracts tendered out 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 initiative.

Bus Éireann has frequent engagement with existing contractors. A national and local media advertising campaign seeking additional contractor operators for the Scheme is currently in place supported by additional targeted social media campaigns.

As part of a national focus on driver requirements, the Department has facilitated a working group between the Department of Education and Youth, Department of Transport, Bus Éireann and Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) to increase the availability of drivers within both the school transport scheme and other public transport areas nationally, through existing and potential training schemes.

As a result of work undertaken by the working group, a transport taskforce has now been established which is chaired by the Department of Transport. The aim of the taskforce is to work collaboratively to identify contributing factors to the recruitment issues and put forward recommendations and measures to address these issues.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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338. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review correspondence as regards a school transport service in Cavan (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28888/25]

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.

Bus Éireann has advised that in recent weeks difficulties have arisen sourcing contractors on 2 services operating the school referred to by the Deputy. Bus Éireann further advise that they have written to those families affected.

Bus Éireann continues to work intensively to ensure that transport arrangements are put in place as soon as possible, and every effort is being made to ensure transport can be sourced and put in place as soon as possible.

For families who have been issued with a tickets on board the service affected, the Department is sanctioning an interim arrangement to assist with the cost of alternative arrangements until your service is in place.

The Exceptional No Service Interim Grant will be made available to families retrospectively. This payment will be paid as an exceptional measure and will be calculated from the date the service ceased until the commencement of the service.

This grant is linked to ticket holders for the number of days that children attend school during this period referred.

School Transport Section of my Department are currently liaising with Bus Éireann to establish the names and addresses of all families in question and will liaise with those families affected on the service referred to by the Deputy in the coming days with regard to the grant details.