I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to address the House and provide an update on the provision of school transport. This is a hugely important issue, particularly for children and young people with additional needs and their families, many of whom require school transport provision to support children in attending school. I pay tribute to my colleague the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and thank her for her great support and co-operation, not just on this issue but also on others that arise right throughout the Department of Education. Since taking up my position in January, I have met many families and visited many schools, which have shared their experiences in relation to school transport. The engagement we have had, particularly with families, has shown school transport to be a vital service to provide children and young people with access to education. I am pleased to see how much the scheme has grown over recent years and note there have been some reported challenges. We are not blind to these. We understand them and are committed to ensuring they are addressed. The school transport scheme was established in 1967, when post-primary education was made free to all, to support children and young people in accessing education. This remains a core belief of the service. It is not just a logistical service involving buses and routes but also a lifeline for families across the island of Ireland. For decades, the scheme has helped to create opportunities and equality. It is about ensuring no child is left behind simply because they live beyond the reach of public transport. In many parts of the country, especially rural and under-serviced areas, the school transport scheme is the only bridge between home and the classroom. The scale of what we are talking about here today is immense. Every single school day, over 178,000 children climb on board approximately 8,200 vehicles, which travel along 10,600 routes to primary and post-primary schools across the country. The service supports parents and guardians in accessing employment by easing one extra stress and their worry about how their children will get to school. It continues to support pupils living in rural and remote areas and children and young people with additional needs, as well as the national sustainability and climate goals. The scheme, which Bus Éireann operates on behalf of the Department, has expanded significantly over the past six years. In that time, the number of children and young people using the services has grown from 120,000 to 178,000, which is an increase of almost 50%. The services facilitate over 100,000 mainstream pupils who are eligible for transport as well as 49,000 with concessionary tickets. In addition, over 23,000 pupils travel on dedicated school transport services for children with additional needs. The growth has been exceptionally marked in the area of special education needing transport, which now represent almost 60% of the scheme's total cost, while serving around 13% of the pupils. This reflects the Department’s and Government's continued commitment to inclusive access and tailored supports. Between 2018 and 2024, investment in the scheme more than doubled, from €200 million to €512 million. This investment is extremely welcome as the scheme and associated costs continue to grow. This growth is driven by increased pupil numbers, the expansion of the scheme for children with additional needs and increased transport costs. As already mentioned, there have been some challenges with the service. I wholeheartedly acknowledge the shortcomings and challenges we have. In our weekly meetings with senior officials from the Department and Bus Éireann, difficulties in sourcing contractors or vehicles in a small number of locations have also been highlighted. It is important to note that the services in question have not been cancelled and that the affected families have been contacted directly in relation to the challenges. There can sometimes be accusations that the lack or late withdrawal of a service is due to poor planning. We all know that services should be sorted out on time before a school year starts. While I understand the frustration, it is important to highlight that the issues which arise are sometimes out of anyone's control. These can include contractors informing Bus Éireann they are withdrawing their services just days before the school term begins. This happens every year, with no clear reasons given. I have seen this year a couple of instances where major contractors withdrew their services well into August on health grounds. These are obviously very unfortunate circumstances, for both the contractors and the impacted families. They mean Bus Éireann has only limited time in which to secure new services. Difficulties have also arisen in some cases due to the lack of driver or contractor availability or where zero bids were received for a particular service despite repeated efforts by both the Department and Bus Éireann to procure a contractor. I assure the House, however, that Bus Éireann’s school transport team is working extensively to ensure transport arrangements are put in place as soon as possible. While the situation is dynamic, with solutions being found daily, those without transport currently represent a very small number of pupils by comparison with the number using school transport services nationally. Approximately 1% are affected. Where a service cannot be provided immediately, my Department will provide interim grants to eligible pupils who travel on mainstream services and services for children with additional needs towards the cost of private transportation until we have a service in place. In an effort to meet these challenges, a wider task force has been established in the Department of Transport to action possible solutions to increase the availability of contractors and drivers. The Department of education has been working extensively with Bus Éireann to streamline the procurement process for contractors. A national and local media campaign was launched earlier this year to attract new contractors and drivers to the scheme. Bus Éireann engaged with local operators to secure cover for services affected. The Department of Education and Bus Éireann continue to engage with the National Transport Authority, NTA, to identify transport solutions available on public transport. Bus Éireann advertises for contractors in the NTA bulletin, specifically targeting contractors of smaller vehicles. On the matter of the driver age limit, the current retirement age, 70, remains in place across Bus Éireann services. A review commissioned by the Road Safety Authority on this issue was completed in August 2024. This review spoke to why the limit should remain. However, the Department of education continues to engage on the commitment in the programme for Government to assess the feasibility of removing the inclusion of drivers over 70. This is a work in progress and a matter on which I will be happy to update the House once further work has been advanced. As outlined by the Minister, the school transport 2030 review has led to a welcome expansion of the scheme, which is growing year on year. The roll-out of the recommended changes to the scheme will provide 260,000 children and young people with transport to and from school daily. The expansion will have a very positive impact on working families and rural communities and will provide young people with self-confidence and independence. It will also reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion. The recommendations are all to be pursued on a phased basis through pilots around the country. I hope to advance these further in the years ahead. Improvements have also been made to enhancing the customer experience, particularly during peak summer months. These include: a dedicated Bus Éireann call centre for school transport queries; a dedicated email address for Oireachtas Members; and a new case management system within the Department. On the school transport appeals board, the Department ensures that all parents and children have access to an efficient and effective appeals process if their applications for eligibility for school transport are refused. This board is independent in the performance of its functions and works in accordance with the terms of its operating procedures. Parents and guardians of children or children who have reached the age of 18 may submit appeals. I will touch on the important role of school bus escorts who can be hired in cases where there are care and safety needs for a child while on school transport, such as to require the support of a school bus escort. My Department provides grant funding directly to schools for the employment of school bus escorts and sets the rate of pay. The boards of management of ETBs are responsible for the employment of school bus escorts. In recognition of the fact that these escorts play a vital role in supporting children with additional needs to ensure they can get to and from school and as a recommended action arising from the recent school transport review, the commitment to review pay rates for school bus escorts has been completed and an information pack has been issued to schools. The rate of pay for escorts has increased from €13.40 an hour to €15.60 per hour as of 1 August 2025. I travelled to primary and post-primary school on the school bus scheme. That scheme has been a major lifeline for people. In its inception, it was for people who did not have transport. Now it is very important for working families. We have met throughout the summer. There were closing dates in April and again in June. The Department and Bus Éireann worked continuously throughout the summer to ensure we had the best possible service in place through mapping out where the demands were and what we needed to do. A number of schemes were very successfully piloted last year and again this year. A number of challenges remain right across the system, but we are very committed to working towards it because we fundamentally believe the school transport system is a fundamental piece of the infrastructure of the State, particularly in special education. Many students I know who require special education, whether it is special classes or special schools, simply would not be able to attend except for the school transport system. I compliment the departmental officials and those from Bus Éireann who have been available day and night over the past number of weeks to try to find resolutions to issues that have arisen across the country. They have been able to find some resolutions. There are some issues we are still dealing with, but the fundamental point is this is a highly respected and integral part of our education system. We must continue to make sure of that. The Minister and I are very committed to a new system being developed over the coming years. We are also looking at the dates and at bringing it back in order that we will have clarity earlier on, rather than in the last week of August or the first week of September, and find resolutions. We need to bring back those dates. The Department and Bus Éireann are both looking at how that can be done to ensure we can have a better system into the future.

Sentiment score: 0.29

I thank all those who contributed to the debate. Somebody said to me anecdotally that the school bus service was quiet this year and that there were not so many issues with it. After the past three and a half hours, I can see the issues quite clearly. The genuine commitment shown by Members on all sides in respect of school transport issues this afternoon is heartening. Everybody, whether in opposition or in government, including non-party Members, has a huge commitment to school buses. That reflects on the value that parents and children throughout the country place on school buses. I know that very personally myself. It is heartening that this House has spent over three and a half hours debating it today and Deputies have brought issues from the length and breadth of the country. In the months since coming into this role, not only have I got to know the towns and villages, I have also got to know the crossroads where the challenges lie. A number of issues were raised in respect of specific schools. We will reflect on them and try to get back to Members. In excess of ten Members raised the issue of bus drivers aged over 70. As I said at the outset, a report was compiled in August 2024. The programme for Government contains a commitment to having an interdepartmental review of this. That is being done by the Department of Transport. A report is due in the next number of weeks. We are looking forward to that. When the report is submitted, we will certainly bring it to the attention of Members and will reflect on it accordingly. Many people understand that a huge volume of work has been done to increase the capacity of the school bus services across the country. A number of issues relating to special education were raised. I am quite aware of the challenges with special education in Dublin, Cork and right across the country. The Department and Bus Éireann are working closely to try to find resolutions in this regard. We all came in for criticism in the debate, but we all - me, as Minister of State, the team in the Department of education and the team in Bus Éireann - take our role very seriously. Realistically, we are rolling out a massive service. The support staff are working extremely hard to find solutions. I am always amazed when I go back to either the departmental or Bus Éireann officials and mention a route, a road or an issue, and without even having to go through their system, I discover that they have the necessary knowledge themselves. I pay tribute to the work they have done. They set up the call centres during the summer to try to make sure that adequate information is given to parents. I take on board the concerns and criticisms as well, and I certainly will be reflecting on them. The other issue that came across was timing. We are looking at that very seriously. We had a number of meetings during the summer months to improve matters in that regard. We were very successful, and I thank the NCSE and others who brought back the date relating to special needs education to 1 October from 1 February. We hope that will have a meaningful role in having a properly planned out system but we need to look at it as well. I understand the frustration. At my first meeting with departmental officials in Tullamore, I said that the period from 15 August to 1 October is the prime school transport period, but this year it happened earlier. A greater number of tickets were issued in July this year. We did an awful lot of extra work on it. We did a huge amount of planning and work. We also did a huge amount on the pilot schemes, some of which still have to be bedded in. We have given commitments on pilot schemes. The Department and Bus Éireann are working extremely hard to make sure we have those in place. Another issue relates to drivers and operators. I will not refer to some individual instances that were raised because I do not want those involved to be identifiable. Some of the contractors, for very legitimate reasons, had to bow out, sometimes owing to extremely challenging health issues. We have to respect those who had to bow out. We wish them well, particularly as they had given long service to the Department of education and Bus Éireann over the years. We have to try to find alternatives. A number of routes have been funded and put in place. We are working very closely with local people to try to find operators that can take up the routes. There are many issues in relation to that. On the taxi system that has been developed in the context of special education, some children need individual transport. We have to be mindful of that. I pay tribute to the taxi companies that provide services for these children for the work they do and for the commitment they give. The Government is very much committed to the review that was carried out. I understand the issues relating to taking cars off the roads, climate change and everything else, but we have to ensure that we expand the scheme as best we can across the country because it is highly valued, both at primary and post-primary level. We will reflect very carefully on the issues that were raised. One or two Deputies referred to contractors they knew who would be willing to go into the system. I am only too happy to take any information in that regard, because it is vitally important. The more information we have, the better. We will follow up on any leads that we have regarding contractors or individuals who may be able to help in the context of the challenges we face. It must be reiterated that, in the context of the school transport system and what we are endeavouring to do, the challenges are only in 1% of it. Members mentioned issues regarding developing a new transport system for different schools. There is a criterion in that regard, but we are looking at where we can help in it. We are mindful that we will deal with the many legitimate challenges put on the record today in a meaningful way. I assure Members that the Minister and I fully understand the value of the school transport system. We want to expand it in the way outlined in the report in order to facilitate maybe another 100,000 in the system over the coming years. We will do that. My team in the Department and I and the team in Bus Éireann will work extremely hard to try to find solutions to the challenges Members have raised. I look forward to working with every one of them. If Deputies across the House have specific information, please share it with me or the team and we will follow up on it to see whether it can benefit not just the transport system but, more importantly, the families who rely on, believe in and appreciate the school transport system, both in mainstream education and special education. I thank all Members for their contributions. We look forward to further discussion on this matter.

Sentiment score: 0.24