Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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1008. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the school transport scheme to allow for payment of school escorts to continue through the summer months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47034/25]

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.

There is a facility within the Special Educational Needs Transport Scheme for the appointment of a school transport escort where a child’s care and safety needs while on school transport are such as to require the support of a School Transport Escort.

The Board of Management/ETB are responsible for the employment of the school transport escort. The Department of Education and Youth provides grant funding directly to the school for the employment of the school transport escort and sets the rate of pay.

It is recognised that school bus escorts play a vital role in supporting children with special educational needs in their journey to and from school.

A review of the School Transport Scheme has been completed. This review was conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness, and sustainability and to ensure it services students and their families adequately. As a recommended action arising from the review, the Department committed to continuing the comprehensive analysis of matters as they relate to the escort's pay, and the information provided to schools as the employer of the escort.

The work underway by School Transport Section regarding the employment of school bus escorts has been completed and an information pack has issued to schools. This pack is updated on an ongoing basis.

The commitment to review pay rates for school bus escorts has also been completed. Since then, the rate of pay for escorts was increased to €15.20 per hour from 01 October 2024. It was further increased to €15.50 per hour effective from 01 March 2025. The most recent pay rate effective from 01 August 2025 is €15.66.

The Department of Social Protection is responsible for the payment of jobseeker's benefits or allowances. Temporary Education Sector Workers (ESW), who have previously been in contact with the Department of Social Protection are issued with a repeat jobseekers application form and a holiday form in advance of school holiday periods. This advance process allows DSP to facilitate a more efficient service. Any queries relating to this process can be directed to the Department of Social Protection.

Brian Brennan (Wicklow-Wexford, Fine Gael)
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1009. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the request from a school (details supplied) for the provision of additional bus places for students who were unsuccessful in their applications for school transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47036/25]

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. In the current school year, over 172,500 children, are transported daily in approximately 7,900 vehicles across 10,300 routes daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres.

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.

Bus Eireann has advised that there is one 53 mainstream school transport service operating to the school referred to by the Deputy, with 32 mainstream eligible & 21 mainstream concessionary tickets issued on board. They further advise that 11 mainstream concessionary on time pupils were unsuccessful in obtaining tickets for the 25/26 School Year.

Brian Brennan (Wicklow-Wexford, Fine Gael)
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1010. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has given consideration to the provision of a bus stop in a village (details supplied) for children availing of school transport to post primary schools in Enniscorthy, County Wexford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47037/25]

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. In the 2024/25 school year, over 173,000 children were transported daily in approximately 8,200 vehicles across 10,600 routes daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres.

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 may apply for transport on a concessionary basis in accordance with the terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme and subject to a number of conditions:

• an application is made by the deadline date
• there is an existing service in place
• there is spare capacity on the service;
• routes will not be extended or altered, additional vehicles will not be introduced, nor will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children travelling on a concessionary basis;
• no additional State cost will be incurred;

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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1011. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action her Department is taking to ensure that pupils attending a school (details supplied), and who are eligible for school transport, are provided with transport on the current bus service for the 2025-2026 academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47042/25]

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 terms of the School Transport Schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from their nearest school and are attending their nearest national school, 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.

Bus Éireann advises that the family in question are not eligible for the primary transport scheme as they reside 1.8km from their school and do not meet the distance criteria. The family have been unsuccessful in obtaining concessionary tickets for the 2025/26 school year and the service in question is operating to capacity.