Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 April 2026
588. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education and Youth the amount paid out under the exceptional grant for parents of children entitled to special school transport who do not receive this transport in Cork, in each of the past five years, in tabular form. [30536/26]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy the Exceptional Interim Grant relates to the mainstream school transport scheme. The grant payable under the scheme for pupils with special educational needs is known as the Special Transport Grant or STG.
The STG may be provided to families of eligible children or young people on either an interim or full time basis in situations including, but not limited to, the following:
• Bus Éireann cannot provide a transport service and a family is waiting on the commencement of the service.
• a child's or young person’s behavioural difficulties or medical needs are such as to make the provision of a transport service unsuitable.
• an escort is considered necessary, and the provision of such support is not available.
• the cost of establishing/maintaining a service is considered prohibitive.
The information cannot be provided in the manner requested by the Deputy. The Department does not retain the information broken down by counties as some children do not attend school in the county they reside. There is also no distinction between the processing of the STG on an interim or full time basis. While it’s not possible to provide the county breakdown, the total annual cost of the STG for the last 5 years nationally is between €2.9m and close to €4m per year.
