Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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904. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason concessionary school transport ticket holders are not permitted to access public transport free of charge in cases where Bus Éireann has failed to provide a school bus service for their children. [46212/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The School Transport Scheme is a significant national operation, managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth, transporting over 173,000 children daily to primary and post-primary schools at a cost of €512 million in 2024. A school transport ticket is issued specifically to provide a seat on a dedicated school service or, in some cases, on scheduled public services at school travel times. It is not a general commuter ticket valid on all public transport services, and extending it as such would not be feasible without incurring substantial additional expenditure. Concessionary tickets are offered only where capacity exists after all eligible pupils have been accommodated on dedicated school transport services. Where pupils wish to use public scheduled services, they must do so on the same basis as all other passengers, that is, on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Unfortunately, in some localities difficulties have arisen in securing contracted services for the start of the 2025/26 school year. Where this has occurred, the Department has sanctioned an Exceptional No Service Interim Grant to assist families who were issued with tickets but had no service available. This grant will be paid retrospectively for each day the child attended school from 25 August 2025 until a service is put in place, ensuring families are not left unsupported during this interim period.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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905. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school bus tickets issued to children nationwide for the upcoming school year for which no corresponding bus service was available. [46213/25]

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.

Over 148,000 mainstream tickets have issued for the 2025/26 school year, which is already almost 5% more than the total tickets issued for the full 2024/25 school year.

Unfortunately, difficulties have arisen in a number of locations, specifically in the east of the country, with a small number of contracted services, where it has not yet been possible to provide vehicles / drivers. Less than 0.5% of ticket holders on mainstream services have been affected. This number continues to change as services are put in place.

These difficulties have arisen in some cases due to lack of driver or contractor availability, or where either zero bids were received for a service, despite repeated efforts to procure one. The Bus Éireann School Transport team is working intensively to ensure that transport arrangements are put in place as soon as possible.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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906. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school bus tickets issued to children in County Meath for the upcoming school year for which no corresponding bus service was available. [46214/25]

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 reported that unfortunately, for a small number of families who were issued a ticket for the 2025/26 school year, difficulties have arisen in some localities with a small number of contracted services. In some cases, these services were secured for the 2025/26 school year and due to reported driver/contractor unavailability at short notice, services could not commence as expected. In other cases, zero bids were received for a service, despite repeated efforts to procure one.

The Bus Éireann School Transport team is working intensively to ensure that transport arrangements are put in place as soon as possible. An “Exceptional No Service Interim Grant” is available from the Department for families affected by this issue and will be based on the number of days children attend school.

Families do not need to make an application for the exceptional payment. Those who have been issued a ticket and do not have a service in place will be contacted by School Transport Section of the Department with further details. Bus Éireann will ensure that families receive regular updates in relation to their service.