1457. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the measures her Department is taking to ensure school transport capacity keeps pace with population growth and increasing school enrolment numbers in rapidly expanding communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63138/26]

1458. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether consideration is being given to amending the school transport scheme, to provide greater certainty for students who have previously travelled on a school transport service, on a concessionary basis but subsequently lose access to that service due to capacity constraints; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63137/26]

1496. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether a review has been undertaken of the current distance eligibility criteria for school transport; whether proposals to reduce these criteria are under consideration; and will she make a statement on the matter. [63552/26]

1497. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the additional number of school buses and drivers that will be required to facilitate the expansion of the school transport scheme to 2030; and will she make a statement on the matter. [63551/26]

1498. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the estimated capital and current expenditure required to expand the school transport scheme to meet projected student population growth to 2030, for each year, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63550/26]

1499. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the measures being taken to ensure that the school transport scheme can accommodate the Programme for Government commitment to provide for an additional 100,000 students by 2030; the projected increase in school transport demand arising from this population growth; and will she make a statement on the matter. [63548/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1457, 1458, 1496, 1497, 1498 and 1499 together.

The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth that has expanded significantly over the past six years. In that time, the numbers of children and young people using the service have grown from under 120,000 pupils in 2018 to over 181,000 pupils including over 24,000 pupils with Special Educational Needs in 2025 which equates to an increase of over 50%. Since 2018, investment in the scheme has more than doubled, from €200 million to €537 million.

The School Transport 2030 report was published in early 2024. The recommended changes to the schemes 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.

It was outlined at the time the Review was published that the proposed changes to the eligibility criteria would further increase demand for the scheme. Therefore, it was considered prudent to implement the changes on a phased basis.

As part of this phased rollout, 14 School Transport pilots commenced in the 2024/25 school year. A further 11 pilots were approved for the 2025/26 school year. For these pilots, the distance criteria for pupils are reduced to 2km for primary and post primary and the need for a pupil to be attending their nearest school is removed.

Due to ongoing challenges in the wider transport sector, including availability of drivers and vehicles, any expansion of services must be carefully planned and phased. While pilot projects are considered in select areas to test revised eligibility criteria, these pilots are limited in scope and capacity.

All pilots are being monitored and an evaluation of the 2025/2026 school year is underway. The findings from the evaluation should guide the planning and implementation needed for a national rollout of a revised School Transport Scheme.

Implementation of the recommendations of the review will continue to be planned on a phased basis, subject to increased financial investment and where there are available resources and capacity to meet the expected increased demand.