Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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966. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on matters raised during the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46577/25]

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.

Under the current terms of the School Transport Schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre as determined by the department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Eligible children who complete the application process and pay or enter their medical card details on time will get a seat on a school bus service, if a service is available.

Children who are not eligible for school transport but complete the application and pay or enter their medical card details on time will be considered for any spare seats available after eligible children have been accommodated. These spare seats are called concessionary seats.

There may be more demand than availability for concessionary seats. In such cases, Bus Éireann will use a selection process to allocate tickets for the spare seats.

In cases where families have applied to attend their nearest schools with regard to ethos and language, and have been advised by the school authorities that these schools are full, the Department will consider if the pupil(s) is eligible to the next nearest school.

While the closest school(s) may be full to capacity at present, each family must supply the documents mentioned below, to School Transport Section of the Department of Education and Youth.

• an application for enrolment was made within the deadline dates specified by the school(s), and
• a letter from each of the school authorities confirming that the school was full.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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967. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide clarity to parents on a school transport route (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46579/25]

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 have advised that nothing has changed with regards to the timetable on route B1726 for the 2025/26 school year. It remains the same as the last school year.

They have also advised that there is a new operator for the service.

Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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968. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of bus drivers who work under the Bus Éireann scheme who have reached the age of 70 years and have had to retire due to Bus Éireann's policy; the data for the academic school years 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26, for each county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46585/25]

Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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969. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of bus drivers who will have to retire for the academic school year 2026-27, 2027-28, for each county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46586/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 968 and 969 together.

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, a commitment has been made 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.

As over 90% of school bus services are contracted locally, it is not possible to provide the information requested by the Deputy.

Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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970. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason companies are withdrawing their contracts with Bus Éireann under the school transport scheme; the number that have withdrawn in the academic school years of 2023/2024, 2024/2025, for each county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46587/25]

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.

The details sought cannot be provided in the manner requested by the Deputy. 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.

Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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971. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of companies that applied for the school transport scheme for the 2025-26 academic school year, for each county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46588/25]

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. In the 2024/25 school year, the school transport scheme operated over 10,600 routes using 8,200 vehicles nationally.

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

The specific information requested by the Deputy is not available.