Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 September 2026
411. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide a county by county breakdown of the number of pupils availing of the school transport scheme for primary, secondary and special schools, in tabular form. [68687/26]
View answerThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth.
The purpose of the scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. It is made up of the Mainstream scheme at Primary and Post Primary level, as well as the scheme for pupils with Special Educational Needs.
The scheme 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 180,000 pupils in 2025, which equates to an increase of close to 50%.
The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the attached document, but it should be noted that tickets continue to issue to families where capacity exists on services, and these figures relate to tickets issued on 23 September 2026.
Mainstream tickets issued September 2026
|
School County |
Post Primary |
Primary |
Total |
|
Carlow |
2018 |
1006 |
3024 |
|
Cavan |
2724 |
1621 |
4345 |
|
Clare |
3387 |
1024 |
4411 |
|
Cork |
13714 |
6195 |
19909 |
|
Donegal |
7403 |
4069 |
11472 |
|
Dublin |
1647 |
1676 |
3323 |
|
Galway |
9896 |
3176 |
13072 |
|
Kerry |
5075 |
2243 |
7318 |
|
Kildare |
4401 |
2140 |
6541 |
|
Kilkenny |
2711 |
1884 |
4595 |
|
Laois |
1753 |
927 |
2680 |
|
Leitrim |
1452 |
994 |
2446 |
|
Limerick |
4990 |
1189 |
6179 |
|
Longford |
1978 |
618 |
2596 |
|
Louth |
4611 |
858 |
5469 |
|
Mayo |
4415 |
1946 |
6361 |
|
Meath |
4305 |
2128 |
6433 |
|
Monaghan |
3052 |
1273 |
4325 |
|
Offaly |
2408 |
866 |
3274 |
|
Roscommon |
1434 |
1157 |
2591 |
|
Sligo |
2087 |
1070 |
3157 |
|
Tipperary |
5027 |
1661 |
6688 |
|
Waterford |
2473 |
1032 |
3505 |
|
Westmeath |
2830 |
1046 |
3876 |
|
Wexford |
5964 |
2110 |
8074 |
|
Wicklow |
2822 |
1028 |
3850 |
|
Total |
104579 |
44944 |
149523 |
