Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

My understanding is that there are families with children who qualify for the bus but the parent is driving behind. Will there be a review of the implementation of this scheme? In six months will the Minister ask if it is working? An example was given by a Member from his area. There may be low numbers on a bus. I have an example given by a woman who spoke of the school bus passing the house. The child in question has severe difficulties and attends a special school, which the bus actually passes. However, because of a technicality, which I will pass on to the Minister, the child does not qualify for transport.

The system does not work for many families. I ask the Minister to examine this at some stage. It creates a barrier with regard to parents and work, if the mother or father has to bring those children to school. That creates difficulty in itself and, regardless of the extra cost, it is a burden on those individuals. How does one explain that one child can go on the bus but another cannot? It does not make sense.

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