Written answers

Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Department of Education and Skills

School Transport

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

977. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applicants for the school transport scheme in 2024. [40745/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

978. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who received a place on the school transport scheme in 2024. [40746/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

979. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applications for the school transport scheme in 2025. [40747/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

980. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who received a place on the school transport scheme in 2025. [40748/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1131. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children who register for a place on the school transport scheme; and the number of places that would need to be delivered to cope with capacity. [42508/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1133. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who received a place on the school transport scheme in 2024. [42510/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1134. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applicants who applied for the school transport scheme in 2025. [42511/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1135. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who received a place on the school transport scheme in 2025. [42512/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1179. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an additional 1 and 100 school transport places. [43020/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1294. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an additional 100 mainstream school transport places if contract rates remain the same as they currently are and there is no spare capacity. [44208/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1295. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an additional 100 special educational needs school transport places if contract rates remain the same as they currently are and there is no spare capacity. [44209/25]

Photo of Michael MoynihanMichael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 977 to 980, inclusive, 1131, 1133 to 1135, inclusive, 1179, 1294 and 1295 together.

The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth.

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.

In relation to the 2025/2026 school year, just under 163,000 mainstream applications are being considered for school transport. Of these applications circa 44,000 are new applications and roll over applications from the previous year. This includes eligible and non-eligible mainstream students. Please note this information is at a point in time and subject to continuous change as data is processed by Bus Éireann local offices - as they may include duplicate applications/part payments/ no service/concessionary no seats/ grants and therefore may not result in an ticket for a service.

Just under 153,000 mainstream applications were received for children who were rolled over from previous year and new applicants for the 2024/25 school year. This includes eligible and non-eligible mainstream students. This figure include duplicate applications / part payments / no service / concessionary no seats / grants and therefore not all applications resulted in an ticket for a service.

In relation to the Deputy's queries regarding places for the 2025/2026 school year, as the closing dates for applications and payments for the 2025/2026 school year have now passed Bus Éireann are in the process of finalising routes. The issuing of tickets has commenced and this will continue over July and August. Families who are unsuccessful in obtaining a seat will be notified via email and a refund will issue. As this work is ongoing for the 2025/2026 school year, the information requested by the Deputy is currently not available.

The overall spend in 2024 for the school transport scheme was €454m. In the 2024/2025 school year, just under 144,000 pupils travelled on mainstream services of which over 98,500 are eligible for Transport, while over 45,500 are concessionary ticket holders. Just under 22,000 children were pupils travelling to and from school on services for children with special educational needs. 59% of the total spend in 2024 related to SEN services, while serving around 13% of all pupils on transport. This reflects the Department’s strong commitment to inclusive access and the provision of tailored supports to meet individual needs. Over 6,800 children from Ukraine are also facilitated on school at a total cost of over €15m. These costs are included in the overall costs of the scheme.

A comprehensive cost benefit analysis was conducted as part of the final phase of the review. As part of this cost benefit analysis a number of options for the future operation of the scheme were considered and each option was fully costed. The cost to operate the scheme under the recommended option is set out in the published final report – School Transport 2030. There are certain assumptions and projections used in compiling these costs, as follows:

1. It is assumed the 2019’ costs are the base costs.

2. Costs will continue to grow at the current rate out to 2031.

3. Savings to be made on the SEN scheme are anticipated as a result of inclusivity on mainstream services, it is assumed in year 1 an uptake rate of 5%, increasing over the next four years to a 20% uptake rate in 4th year of implementation.

4. Is it assumed that costs associated with the reduction in parental fees and with additional services to cater for the increased demand brought about by the cost-of-living incentives, will be replaced by the review costs.

5. Ukrainian costs will continue as required.

With regards to the estimated cost of transporting a mainstream pupil during the review of school transport scheme this was estimated at €1,494 per pupil in 2024 to €1,892 per pupil in 2030 if the review was not implemented and from under €1,200 per pupil in 2024 to €833 per pupil in 2030 if the review was rolled out. It should be noted that the cost per pupil for all pupils (SEN and mainstream) will increase over the period. It should be noted that the financial and economic analysis undertaken in the cost benefit analysis were completed in line with the guidance in the Public Spending Code.

To achieve our ambition to expand and improve the scheme it was estimated at that time, i.e. that it carries 100,000 additional students, will require increasing costs over time to €672m(NPV-2024) in 2030.

If we do not implement the recommendations of the scheme, financial and economic modelling shows that the costs of the scheme will rise to €679m(NPV- 2024) in 2030 in any case. This is because the comprehensive set of recommendations if implemented will leverage four major factors:

· Creating opportunities for SEN children to travel on mainstream transport with the appropriate supports, should they so wish.

· Creating greater access to local provision for children with SEN so that they have to travel less distance to access appropriate educational provision for their needs.

· Decreasing demographics which will see spare capacity increase over time on the buses.

· Greater integration with public transport where appropriate.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.