Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 3 Oct 2024

I had hoped the Minister for Education would be in a position to take this Topical Issue, but I was contacted earlier and it was outlined that because of prior commitments, she would not be able to. I cannot overstate the frustration of my constituents in County Clare. They notified me in the very late stages of August about the pilot school transport scheme and what the consequences were for them and their children. Since then, I have made numerous representatives to Bus Éireann and the Minister for Education and have received the same generic response each time, pointing to the fact this was a pilot scheme and that a review will take place.

This is why I am so critical of the term "review". I have said it is a delaying tactic, but in this respect it is preventing that necessary communication from parents directly to the Minister for Education, and even from me as well. I appreciate that the Minister has ensured that representatives from Bus Éireann have engaged with these parents, which has helped to some extent, but serious and almost dangerous decisions have been made, not to mention the cost, which I will come to later. It has been disastrous and I do not want it to be replicated in other rural areas, in particular. From what I understand, we have gone from having private contractors to children having to use public transport, but not enough buses or bus stops were in place. None of it seems to have been planned out. In the first instance, parents were told their children would have to be collected from the side of a dual carriageway. The parents have fought back and done amazing work, protesting and arriving at these bus stops at 7 a.m. before they head off to work, to ensure their children are safe. These issues were not spotted or forecast and, as far as the parents are concerned, that is completely unacceptable.

There has been a lot of backwards and forwards. A total of 280 children have had to wait at a pub car park on a busy main road that has no shelter and this is, as I said, on the side of a dual carriageway, which is completely unacceptable. On 2 September, children had to sit in threes on pairs of seats and stand in stairwells, putting their safety at risk. There was also enormous pushback from parents regarding seatbelts. As they pointed out, the Bus Éireann portal has a graphic making parents aware they need to talk to their children about putting on seatbelts because that is a safety issue, yet a bus that was provided had no seatbelts whatsoever. On top of that, there was the 316 bus, which again had little regard to road safety, and only recently Bus Éireann managed to put on more suitable and safer buses, but there has been no clarification as to whether that is going to be permanent. The parents are not sure whether, as we come into the Christmas period, the bus will be pulled or put in a different location. Being unable to discuss this with the Minister or get her support for those families, children and parents has been disappointing.

I apologise that the Minister for Education is not able to be here. She asked me to deputise for her and express her apologies on her behalf.

Before I address the specific issue raised, I will provide an outline of the extent of the school transport scheme. The scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023-24 school year, more than 163,600 children, including more than 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post-primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs and 7,400 pupils who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine, were transported daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02 million. More than 140,000 mainstream tickets have issued for the 2024-25 school year, which is already 3% more than the total number of tickets issued for the full 2023-24 school year.

The school transport scheme is an important service for families and children. The purpose of the scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remotely from their nearest school. Under the current schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 km from, and are attending, their nearest national school as determined by the Department or Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

At post-primary level, children are eligible where they reside not less than 4.8 km from, and are attending, their nearest post-primary school or education centre as determined by the Department or Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. Children who are eligible for school transport and complete the application process on time, that is, apply on time and pay on time, are accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation. Temporary alleviation measures, TAMs, at post-primary level, which have been in place since 2019, are being continued for the 2024-25 school year. Under these measures, transport is provided where a route is in operation and where capacity exists for concessionary post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school, are attending their second nearest school and applied and paid on time. Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis only and will be facilitated where spare seats are available after eligible children have been accommodated. Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available, Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for the spare seats using an agreed selection process.

The School Transport 2030 report, published earlier this year, marks the largest review of the school transport scheme since it was established in 1967.

The Government is committed to working to achieve the report's recommendation of expanding access to the scheme in order that an additional 100,000 pupils can be carried by 2030. The recommended changes to the future operation of the scheme include expansion of the current eligibility criteria, addressing current operational challenges and moving towards better integration with public transport to ensure the best value for money to the Exchequer.

A phased implementation of the review's recommendations began at the start of this school year. As indicated at the time of the launch of the review, this implementation includes a shared effort between the Department of Education and the Department of Transport, supported by the National Transport Authority, NTA, and Bus Éireann, to pilot and introduce greater integration of existing public transport networks with post-primary school transport routes. Two areas were identified for these initial pilot projects, one in the Limerick-Shannon area, in the Deputy's constituency, and the other in the Roscommon-Athlone area. The pilot projects in the 2024-25 school year will provide valuable insights into the scale of planning and implementation required for national implementation of a revised school transport scheme, to include the integration of public transport and school transport services. It is intended, subject to resources, to commence implementing the revised eligibility criteria in the 2025-26 school year.

Regarding the important issues raised by the Deputy, one of the pilot projects is being conducted along the existing public transport route 343 on the Limerick-Shannon-Ennis corridor. The 343 route corridor, and associated routes, was chosen because it is an established public transport corridor serving Limerick, Shannon and Ennis, which underwent significant enhancement of services from Sunday, 25 August under the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan. Those changes coincided with the new school year. There are a number of post-primary schools on the route. Post-primary pupils involved in the pilot scheme are travelling on public transport services using their school transport ticket.

The routes in the pilot are public service obligation, PSO, routes and the necessary safeguards and approvals have been gained from the NTA. Children travel on similar public transport commuter services all over the country at peak hours, with those services being open for travel by members of the public. Bus Éireann transports thousands of children nationwide every day on public bus and school transport services. Keeping customers, especially children, safe is a core element of its culture. This extends to children availing of services both on its premises and at specific off-site locations, as outlined in the company's child safeguarding policy. A full range of passengers use these services daily, including schoolchildren who avail of existing public transport options in their area outside the school transport scheme.

Pupils on the pilot scheme have been allocated a Leap card and given a departure time and pick-up point for their service. There is enough capacity for all students at their pick-up point and the timetable has been designed to meet demand at the relevant time of the day. The pilot service has been in operation since 26 August. Bus Éireann personnel have been present at several stops along the route to observe its operation, assist children as they transition to the new services and deal with queries from parents. They have reported that the services are operating successfully. Capacity has been planned in the scheduled timetable at peak hours to cater for pupils allocated transport tickets as part of the pilot scheme. To further ensure there are no issues with large volumes of students at bus stops, departures are staggered, with specific departure slots allocated and communicated to families.

The Deputy stated that the scheme has resulted in record high expenditure on taxis for students. This is not the case. All students availing of the pilot scheme are travelling on public transport services using their school transport ticket. There has been ongoing consultation with numerous stakeholders, including school representatives, parents and politicians based in the area, in recent weeks. This engagement has led to some alterations being made to aspects of the pilot scheme, including set-down points and pick-up locations.

We are way over time. Given that this is an important and complicated subject, I allowed the debate to proceed in deference to both the Deputy and the Minister of State. The Deputy has two minutes for her second contribution. I ask that she keep it to the shortest possible time in order that we meet the deadline and facilitate the Members waiting to speak.

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I have a number of points on which to come back. There is no question that the school transport scheme has been expanded. Even the parents accept that this expansion was a hugely ambitious task to undertake for this September. The route that was chosen may be an established route but it underwent changes. There are no timetables on any of the bus stops on the route to assist anybody travelling on the buses. Fair enough, it took two or three weeks to get each bus service in place that was required for all the children. However, the St. Caimin's Community School bus stop is only just being finished. It was nearly finished when I last looked for an update.

The issue is not about the ambition and scale of the plan but the necessary planning that was not put in place. The Minister of State referred to the costs. I pointed out the massive increase in the cost of transportation in respect of taxis in particular. That points to the fact that in some places, especially rural parts of County Clare, it was not possible to put a bus service in place. Nationally, the cost has increased by 108%. In Clare, however, between 2020 and 2023, the cost increased by 197.5%, or just under 200%.

I am aware of the provision of leap cards, which the Minister of State mentioned. However, I am also aware that the cards were given to parents of children with special needs. One such child is only six years old. The idea of that child with special needs using a Leap card to travel on public transport is a bit crazy. That situation was rectified in the end but the problem was not spotted in the first place. That is my point.

The Minister of State said that public transport is safe. In fact, there have been increases in antisocial behaviour on public transport. That is why I raised that point.

I understand where the Deputy is coming from regarding children with special needs who have particular requirements. That needs to be taken on board. As I outlined in my reply, my understanding is that there has been full consultation with parents, schools, Bus Éireann and politicians. There inevitably will be teething problems with the scheme. I hope they will be resolved shortly but there still may be some problems that take a bit of time to sort out. I will convey the Deputy's comments to the Minister.

As I detailed, the pilot projects will provide valuable insights into 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. While I am aware that some issues have been raised locally regarding the pilot, I assure the Deputy that officials in the school transport section of the Department, along with Bus Éireann and the NTA, will continue to assess the pilot closely over the coming weeks and months. I assure the Deputy that the safety of children travelling to school on these services is a priority for the Department and Bus Éireann. We will continue to engage with the local community in the coming weeks. I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to update her on school transport for the current and upcoming school year.