Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

24. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update in relation to the school transport pilot scheme, in particular in relation to the evaluation of 14 pilot projects undertaken in the 2024-2025 school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59700/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The scheme, which Bus Éireann operates on behalf of my Department, has expanded significantly over the past six years. In that time, the numbers of children and young people using the service have grown from under 120,000 pupils in 2018 to over 178,000 pupils in 2025 which equates to an increase of close to 50%. Since 2018, investment in the scheme has more than doubled, from €200 million to €512 million in 2024.

The figure of 178,000 for 2025 breaks down as follows: over 100,000 mainstream pupils: approximately 49,000 pupils who are not eligible for transport, referred to as concessionaries; 23,000 pupils with Special Education Needs (SEN), and finally 5,500 pupils from Ukraine and IPAS.

In the current school year over 178,000 children are travelling on 8,200 vehicles across 10,600 routes daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country, covering over 120,000 kilometres per day.

The growth in school transport has been especially marked in the area of SEN. This now represents almost 60% of the scheme’s total costs, while serving around 13% of pupils.

As part of the recommendations the School Transport Review, fourteen School Transport pilots began in the 2024/2025 school year. I'm pleased to say that these pilots are continuing in the current school year.

It was outlined at the time of the review’s publication that as the proposed changes to the eligibility criteria will likely increase demand for the scheme, it would be prudent to implement the proposed changes on a phased basis to ensure its rollout is as smooth as possible.

In line with the review’s recommendations, the School Transport Section of my Department engaged with Bus Éireann to identify where more pilots could be successfully delivered for the current school year.

A small number of new pilots have been selected for the current school year. The Department has given approval to Bus Éireann to review where additional capacity may be available for concessionary pupils who paid on time and would become eligible if the revised school transport scheme criteria was rolled out fully.

As part of these pilots, the distance criteria for pupils is reduced to 2km for primary and post primary and the need for a pupil to be attending their nearest school is removed.

Some of these pilots are operational and the remainder are going through procurement.

These pilots will provide valuable insights on the impact increased demand will have on the scheme, the potential to integrate public transport services with school transport services, and the facilitation of more sustainable modes of transport.

Provision of additional services as pilot projects will be subject to the availability of vehicles and drivers in each area. Implementation of the review recommendations will continue to be planned subject to resources being available to meet the increased demand.