Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, thank all of the witnesses for their presentations. I also want to raise a number of local issues. I have been contacted by parents in Tipperary who have to drive their children two and a half miles to the nearest bus stop. There are other children whose parents have to do likewise. It does not make sense that so many children have to be driven two and a half miles to meet the school bus. I accept it is not possible to cover all areas on a route but surely in a situation where there are up to 12 children attending the same school living in a particular area, as in this case, it should be possible for the bus to divert to that area to pick them up.

Similar to the issue raised by Deputy Martin in regard to Ballinteer Educate Together, Gaelscoil an Raithin in Limerick is awaiting a permanent site and is due to relocate in September to Mungret, which is 4 km. from its current location. Mungret is not served by Bus Éireann and or the school transport system. Up to now, most parents have been able to walk their children to the school at its current location because they live in the catchment area but they will not be able to do so when it is relocated. Are there any plans in place in this regard in terms of school transport? I have contacted the school transport division and I have been told there are no such plans in place.

There are number of children in my area who do not attend their nearest school, rather they attend another school on the far side of the city because it has more smaller classes and some of them have special needs.

The school bus passes them, where they gather at a bus stop, to start the route further down the road, but because they are a little further away, they do not meet the criteria. Approximately eight of them gather every morning and the parents take them to school on a rota basis. Every morning the bus passes them, but it is not part of the route. These practical issues need to be looked at.