Emer Currie
Ceist:264. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of bus escorts hired to support special education transport, broken down per year from 2020 to date, in tabular form. [70542/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 6 October 2026
Ceisteanna (264)
Freagraí scríofa
The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth.
The Board of Management/ETB are responsible for the employment of the school transport escort. The Department of Education and Youth provides grant funding directly to the school for the employment of the school transport escort and sets the rate of pay. This grant funding is paid in advance of the upcoming year so that schools have the funds available to pay school bus escorts.
School Transport Escort hours are determined locally by the Board of Management/ETB and may vary from school to school depending on the length of the journey for the child/children on the service, the number of children on the service and the opening/closing times of the school.
The detail requested by the Deputy is not available in the manner requested as there are a large number of escorts and sub escorts employed locally who work varying hours depending on the length of the journey to support children to and from school.
The number of escort hours funded by the Department for the years requested are as follows:
2020/2021 school year - over 2,000000 hours.
2021/2022 school year - over 2,500,000 hours.
2022/2023 school year - over 2,800,000 hours.
2023/2024 school year - over 3,300,000 hours.
2024/2025 school year - over 3,700,000 hours.