Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

Children have been back in school for seven weeks and, in my county of Wicklow, there are still seven routes that are not operating under the school transport scheme. Two of those routes are for children with additional and complex needs and another is for children in direct provision. The areas impacted are Ashford, Laragh, Roundwood, Arklow and Delgany. This is unacceptable. Every year, this happens in Wicklow, in particular. The dedicated call centre that was set up by Bus Éireann has been closed and the communication by the company with parents is pretty much non-existent. Those parents are now at breaking point. They feel as if they have been forgotten and, unfortunately, as I said, this happens year in, year out. They end up trying to juggle work and getting their children to school. I would be interested to hear if the Minister, who has responsibility for rural communities, has concerns about the failure to provide this most basic public service in our rural communities. What is the Minister for Education going to do to resolve this?

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