Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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563. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when a response will issue to correspondence from this Deputy regarding an application for a seat on a special needs school transport for a child in County Donegal (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62218/25]

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.?

The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

The Department and Bus Éireann are very conscious of the specialised nature of transport provision for children with special educational needs. This is reflected in the standard of dedicated service provided and the fact that these services are generally planned and timetabled to operate on a door-to-door basis.

Given the requirements of children with special educational needs, it is not always practical to make these services available to children who are capable of travelling on standard mainstream school transport services. As to do so might diminish the level of care and safety that the Department and Bus Eireann wish to provide for these children.

Bus Éireann has advised that there are other children on the SEN service in question and, therefore, this request cannot be considered.