Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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918. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the breakdown of the number of applications for school transport in County Meath for the 2025-2026 academic year; the number of pupils who were issued a bus ticket under the scheme; the number of pupils who were refused a place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60072/25]

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 Scheme, children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2km from and are attending their nearest primary school, and reside not less than 4.8km from and are attending their nearest post primary centre, as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

The closing date for school transport for the 2025/26 school year was 25 April 2025. The closing date for payments/inputting medical card details was 06 June 2025.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.

Under the terms of the scheme, the availability of concessionary transport varies from year to year based on the capacity on the buses running on all the various routes and the number of eligible children accommodated on each route.

Due to the nature of concessionary transport for non-eligible children and the priority of providing places for eligible children, there may be an excess of demand over supply for concessionary places, in these cases Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for spare seats using an agreed selection process.

The data requested by the Deputy for applications in County Meath is provided in the attached table.