Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start on a positive note. The dramatic expansion of the school transport scheme in recent years has brought more students into the fold in terms of being able to get a bus to school. That is welcome. Last year, while there were teething problems with the expanded scheme, it ensured more kids than ever before got to school. Despite the problems with drivers, routes and the usual palaver that happens every year, more children got to school. That is most welcome.

I welcome the fact we are persisting with keeping fees down for tickets. It will be, I think, €50 per student and €125 maximum per family. However, there are still difficulties. We are still waiting for the school transport review to be finalised. In light of that, I understand the Minister will take interim measures again.

No scheme will ever be perfect. There will always be anomalies and specific circumstances. One size will not fit all. Traditionally, pupils from the village of Watergrasshill in County Cork have always gone to school in Fermoy. Historically, the connections are there. There is an all-boys school and an all-girls school there, and now there is a new comprehensive school as well. In the interim a school was built in Glanmire, which is closer but which has no connection to the village historically and would not be considered its hinterland. Glanmire is in the city. The second nearest school is Carrignavar. The numbers that go from Watergrasshill to Carrignavar can be counted on one hand. About a dozen children qualify for a ticket to Glanmire from Watergrasshill, four or five students qualify for a ticket to Carrignavar and 50 students wait on the side of the road every morning to get a public bus to Fermoy and pay full rate. It is the third nearest school, technically, as the criteria are interpreted, but the difference is metres rather than kilometres.

I know the full school review has not been completed and will not be completed in time for this year’s intake but I ask that Bus Éireann be given flexibility when it comes to determining routes. The Minister of State will read a response from the Department giving the criteria concerning the nearest and second-nearest school. I know all that and do not need to hear it again. I ask that Bus Éireann, which manages the routes day to day and does all the juggling of children over the summer, be given some flexibility. We all know here that those few months are madness. A business case could be made for routes like those I am talking about where it is common sense that 50 children should be accommodated, as opposed to four and 12 to nearer schools. I ask for that flexibility to be extended. I know the Minister of State cannot grant me that today but I ask him to take the message back to the Minister for Education when she implements this and issues the tickets through Bus Éireann.

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