SEÁN KENNY TD WELCOMES REDUCTION IN SCHOOL BUS COSTS

Posted on June 30, 2011 12:12 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Seán Kenny, the Dublin North East Labour TD and Oireachtas Transport Committee member, today welcomed the agreement by Bus Eireann to reduce school transport costs by €1.5 million and also the agreement by Bus Eireann to publish audited accounts of the scheme.

"This will significantly reduce the administrative costs of the School Transport Service and Bus Eireann will continue to reduce administrative costs over the next three years", said Deputy Kenny.

"Ciaran Cannon, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills and officials from his Department met with Bus Eireann yesterday as part of their efforts to find savings in the School Transport Scheme which currently costs the state some €180 million.", he continued.

"This upshot of all this is that the total administrative costs of Bus Eireann to operate the School Bus scheme will be around €16.7 million this year - not €25 million as has been speculated recently.", Deputy Kenny said.
"I am pleased that Bus Eireann was willing to oblige the Minister in publishing the audited accounts of the scheme.", Deputy Kenny said.

"This is a welcome development and it shows how this government is committed to ensuring transparency within the public sector. As the scheme depends on public money, so the public have a right to know how it is being spent. These accounts will also show that the scheme is not receiving money from the Department of Education for subsidising commercial services.", he concluded.

The audited accounts from Bus Eireann for the School Transport Scheme are available here.