Five hundred children with special needs were waiting on a school bus place at the start of this academic year.

Figures released to Fianna Fáil show that more than 2,700 applications for school transport for children with special educational needs were accepted for the 2018/19 school year.

However, statistics reveal that transport arrangements were still being finalised for some 500 of these applications at the beginning of September.

Fianna Fáil's Thomas Byrne told RTÉ News he was prompted to ask a Parliamentary Question to the Department of Education following a number of queries from concerned parents with special needs children who were having problems getting a place on the school bus.

Mr Byrne said it was "not fair" that hundreds of children have been left without transport to primary and post-primary schools.