Court of Appeal rules against school bus bid

The Court of Appeal has ruled against a challenge to Bus Éireann’s role as the sole operator of the State’s school transport scheme.

Multinational-backed Student Transport Scheme (STS) has been fighting a three-year legal case claiming that the Department of Education should allow the private sector to tender for the service in line with general public procurement practice.

However, on Friday the Court of Appeal upheld earlier rulings by the High Court that the department is not required to do this.

In 2013 the High Court said that the school transport scheme, which costs about €150 million a-year to operate, is not a commercial contract but an adminstrative arrangement between two State bodies, so it does not need to be put out to tender.

This was partly based on the fact that the department reimburses the company, which says that it does not make a profit, and can unilaterally cut the funding available for the service.

STS said on Friday that it would consider its position after studying the Court of Appeal’s ruling.