2026-04-23

12. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Education and Youth if her Department has considered the particular challenges associated with the current school transport criteria in rural areas such as County Mayo, including the local nuances associated with feeder schools and geographical distances; the measures her Department is taking to address these challenges; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29062/26]

Go raibh maith agat to my Vice Chair who is allowing me to swap to let me make it in time for a committee. Has the Minister considered the particularly nuanced challenges around current school transport, especially local traditions in relation to feeder schools versus kilometres, especially in rural counties like Mayo?

I thank the Deputy for the question. The school transport system is operated on behalf of the Department by Bus Éireann and it has expanded significantly over the past six years. In response to previous questions, I said the number of pupils using the service had increased from 120,000 years ago to 181,000 now. That is more than a 50% increase in a short time. The investment by the State has increased from €200 million to €537 million in 2025. There has been a huge increase in the special education requirement aspect of it as well, which now accounts for almost 60% of funding in the scheme. The Deputy mentioned the feeder schools. At various points, we can see that the school transport system is encountering challenges across the country. There are challenges in relation to areas of the country where the feeder schools are going to one particular school and the nearest school is going to other schools. Those have been recurring for some time. In fact, going back a number of years ago, it was changed from the catchment area to the nearest school to try to alleviate the pressures in the school transport system and to modernise it. A number of pilot projects have taken place. There were 14 in the previous school year and 11 in the current school year. This data is being collected right to the end of this school year to ensure we have a proper glance at where the challenges are. In the programme for Government, we are committed to further expanding the scheme. Indeed, the 2030 report also talks about it. A lot of the questions that have come from the Deputy, and from other Deputies, concerned feeder schools, the criteria involved in this context and how that marries into how we operate the school transport system in future. County Mayo has been mentioned a few times, and we will certainly review the situation, but it will be based on the data we have from the pilot schemes.

I welcome the huge investment in school transport and the huge increase. It is almost a year to the day I spoke about Sancta Maria Secondary School in Louisburgh that has two buses going every single day from Westport at a cost of approximately €850 to the parents. Traditionally, kids from Westport have either gone to Westport or Louisburgh schools. I even know of kids from Newport who will either go to school in Westport or Achill, but Castlebar schools could be considered their second nearest option. I understand there might be pilots going on, but a year later there are still parents paying €850. We do not have many children going from Westport to Castlebar, but traditionally we have two buses going to Louisburgh. That is data. We can look back over the past seven or eight years and there are two buses every single year going from Westport to Louisburgh. The Minister of State will agree, €850 is a huge cost to parents.

We have looked at the different challenges with feeder schools and where the clusters or noise is within the system. Last year, we had a weekly meeting with Bus Éireann and the Department to monitor the situation and this year we have brought forward a closing date from June to 8 May to ensure we can do better. We probably will have the same challenges in August or September but we want to have better sight of what is needed and what are the applications. The issue in relation to feeder schools is continuously raised with us whether in the Deputy’s area or other areas, and how the figures are with parental choice and what the norm is in those communities. It is something that if we had an endless purse we would love to resolve but we are constantly keeping it under review. Going back a number of years, it was the catchment areas which were drawn up in the late 1960s. We removed that. It is something that is constantly brought in with feeder schools and it is constantly under review.

I can see why in places like Dublin, Galway or bigger areas, the catchment area could be confusing and there are a lot of schools. However, when we look at really rural places, it seems it would be much easier to engage with the schools themselves. The primary schools can tell the Department where all the students are going. If the primary schools in Newport are saying their students are either going to go to Westport, Achill or Louisburgh, why is Castlebar down as their nearest school? It might geographically be the second nearest or nearest school, but if kids from an area are not going there at all, it is crazy that the system would look at it that way. If there is any way there is a pilot that could be looked at for rural areas to see if the Department could engage with primary schools first and foremost to assess the nearest and second nearest schools based on where kids are going rather than on kilometres it would help, because there could be a school nearer by kilometres. For example, for students in Glenhest, there is a 0.5 difference in kilometres, but the kids are not going to Castlebar, they are going to Achill, Westport or Louisburgh.

I talked about if we had endless funding in the Department, one issue would be traditional feeder schools and the policy there. We have to work within the parameters we have. In relation to the evolving of the school transport system, it is hugely valued within rural Ireland because it is an enabler to get the children to and from school and the different work patterns parents have. As I said earlier, one week last September there were nine hours of debate on school transport within the Houses of the Oireachtas which showed the level of interest in relation to it. One of the issues the Deputy’s colleagues raised earlier in relation to another part of the country was feeder schools. There is no question we have challenges in relation to this because of the huge growth in the school transport system in the past number of years. We are continuing to invest in it, but it is one of the key pieces we have to do more work on.