merrion street

The Department of Education and Skills (DES) has today published on its website a review of Overhead Costs and other indirect costs attributable to the school transport Scheme.

This review coincided with a Value for Money review of the School Transport Scheme, published in March 2011. Bus Éireann fully co-operated with the consultants, Farrell Grant Sparks (FGS), who conducted the review in an open and transparent manner providing detailed financial information to assist in their review process.

The overhead costs and other indirect costs attributable to the school transport charge are known collectively as the transport management charge. This charge is designed to compensate Bus Éireann for costs involved in the running of the school transport scheme which are not billed separately to the Department.

In recent years having regard to the State’s economic circumstances it has been the practice for Bus Éireann to rebate an element of this charge. Since 2008, the cumulative value of this rebate is some €10.5 million.

The Consultants had extensive access to Bus Éireann financial information. For this reason the review was conducted under a confidentiality agreement between FGS and Bus Éireann.

The review notes and acknowledges that Bus Éireann has clearly applied the accounting arrangements for the scheme since 1975.

Given the lapse of time since the review was conducted, material which was deemed commercially sensitive is no longer considered so. The DES and Bus Éireann have now agreed that it is now possible to publish the report with only limited exclusions of material that remains commercially sensitive.

ENDS

The FGS Review is available at