Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I cannot stay for much more of the meeting, but I invited some of my colleagues to attend and they will ask questions based on their direct experience in their constituencies and they will be the same as the ones I would ask.

Last year I noticed that many of the problems stemmed from the fact parents had not been informed until very late in the summer. This caused not alone huge inconvenience but also huge shock. I hope there will be no surprises this year. We have a "no surprises" clause in the confidence and supply agreement and I would like to think it extends to this issue. It caused a lot of angst last year.

I thank Ms Corr from NABMSE for attending the meeting and all the work it did for us on the schools admission Bill, for which we were very grateful. The school transport system is a very important part of the system of free education. We know that it is limited, but it seems as if some of the rules have been very strictly enforced in recent years .

I do not know whether the particular issue of oversubscribed schools has been raised. For example, Deputy Eugene Murphy has told me that children in Tarmonbarry in Longford cannot always get into the local school. This means that they must attend a school in Strokestown or somewhere else which seems to be a problem. Do the rules allow for oversubscription in the nearest school?