135 Deputy Ulick Burke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider further extending the use of the school bus fleet during the hours between morning collection and evening return collection. [41497/10]

One of the main objectives of the school transport scheme is to provide a basic level of service for children who live long distances from school and who might otherwise experience difficulty in attending regularly. The school transport scheme which is operated by Bus Éireann on my Department's behalf is a very significant national operation involving about 42 million journeys and over 82 million kilometres on 6,000 routes every school year. The service is delivered using a mix of Bus Éireann, both school transport and road passenger vehicles, private contractor vehicles including private operator scheduled services, and Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, DART and LUAS where practical.

In line with the Programme for Government, my Department in consultation with Bus Eireann and other Departments is actively considering how vehicles which provide services under the School Transport Scheme could feasibly be utilised to provide other services that would benefit the wider community after children have been brought to school in the morning and before they are collected from school in the afternoon. Consideration of such arrangements will not impinge, however, on the core function of the scheme, namely the provision of school transport for families availing of transport under the School Transport Scheme or the standard of these services.