Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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341. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school bus tickets issued to children nationwide for the 2025/2026 school year for which no corresponding bus service was available. [50428/25]

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 to date 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, particularly 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 nationwide have been affected. This number continues to decrease as services are put in place on a daily basis.

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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342. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school bus tickets issued to children in County Meath for the 2025/2026 school year for which no corresponding bus service was available. [50429/25]

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 to date, which is already almost 5% more than the total tickets issued for the full 2024/25 school year. Over 6,300 mainstream tickets have issued for pupils attending schools in county Meath.

Unfortunately, difficulties have arisen in a number of locations, particularly 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 nationwide have been affected. This number continues to decrease as services are put in place on a daily basis.

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.