Mr. Gerry Gannon:

Bus Éireann is very mindful that change, particularly change for special educational needs children, can be very distressing for the children and their families. We endeavour to keep things as stable as possible and keep changes to an absolute minimum. Nonetheless, there are operational reasons that changes might have to be made at short notice. Safety is one of the issues. Let us remember that all SEN services are provided by contractors. If a contractor's vehicle is not roadworthy, if it does not have a PSV certificate or the insurance was not renewed then it would be a breach of contract situation. As a result we would have to take immediate action and there would not be time to notify people in advance.

Generally speaking, 20% is the average amount of existing services that are retendered every year. The contractors are made aware that their services are open for tender. Our local offices make contact when they become aware of the identify of the new operators. The procurement campaign, which my colleague here is intimately acquainted with, is a very detailed process that begins in January each year and ends with the contracts being awarded towards the end of July. That is how long it takes to get through all of the various stages. Therefore, it is not possible for us to contact special schools when the contracts are awarded. We could contact them but most schools are on holidays when the contracts are awarded.

There can be issues arising from the time that the contracts are awarded, which is unavoidable because of the structure of the procurement process and the amount of time that people have to be allowed to respond. I will not go into the details but I can if the committee requires it. There are valid reasons we cannot give the notification that we would otherwise like to give.

On the issue of contact with the office, the point was raised that there was nobody to contact. There is a Bus Éireann mobile school transport inspector in each area. The local offices can contact that inspector if there are contact difficulties. The school authorities in each area should have his phone number.

In terms of suitable replacement buses, contractors are contractually obligated to have spare vehicles of the type that they are providing first-line. They should have suitable replacement buses themselves.

The issue of the lengths of journeys is valid. I have looked at studies down through the years. I saw a 1998 review of the school transport committee. It looked at this area and concluded that because special needs centres were more diverse in comparison to primary and post-primary schools that there would naturally be a greater travel time involved in bringing children who are more diversely located at home to these schools. The solution reached at that time did not necessarily involve more transport provision but possibly more facilities. I mention that as an observation. I do not believe that the Department has been found wanting in terms of investment in school transport provision.

On the issue of bullying in primary school we have extensive child protection procedures in place in Bus Éireann now. If there are complaints about bullying on school buses we have the wherewithal to take action.

In terms of daily travel time it was mentioned that pupils are in some cases spending up to three hours on post-primary services. There is a daily travel and waiting time criteria under the school transport scheme. At primary level the guideline is one and a half hours, and at post-primary it is two and a half hours. We endeavour to keep our services within that criteria.

Deputy Martin mentioned the issue of training for escorts and drivers operating special educational needs services. Bus Éireann would defer to the specialists in the area, in this case the school authorities who are best acquainted with the children and their individual needs and the methods of calming these children when they are in distress. They are certainly the best qualified people to provide training. There was disciplinary awareness training given for contractor drivers as well as Bus Éireann driver in 2007 when funding was available. If funding was available again we could certainly look at that.

Senator Byrne raised questions about 12 children who were two and a half miles off a route. I would be interested to know more about this, and I will write to the Senator after this meeting. I would like to know if the children are eligible or concessionary, because there is a difference under the rules of the school transport scheme. Again, the reasonable distance service criteria kicks in. For eligible children it is up to 3.2 km from a service. That is considered to be a reasonable distance to service, and is something that we take into account when we are planning our routes.

The issue that the Senator raised concerning Mungret is something that I am not aware of, but I will investigate and revert.

Deputy Nolan spoke about concessionaries, and if it is likely that many concessionary children would lose seats. The answer is that we simply do not know at the moment, because the closing date for the payments is, as Mr. Hernan has mentioned, 28 July. We do not know how many eligibles are actually going to come forward on a route by route basis until the payments are received. One of the complicating factors is that there is an Irish tradition - which we are encouraging people to break - of late payments. Irrespective of the closing date for payments we continue to receive payments up to and into the start of the new school year. On a route by route basis that can complicate matters. We endeavour to accommodate as many eligible children as possible, and in so doing we have seats available for concessionary children. There is a possibility that we might have to reorganise a service to accommodate the eligible children offering at a late stage. Some concessionary transport may also become available as a result, so we withhold moneys until we know that we do not have the seats. It is only when we are absolutely sure that we have tried everything to accommodate people that we refund the moneys. That is why there can be a delay with the refunds. I know that it can be frustrating, but I believe that it is preferable to refunding all of the monies on 29 July. It is better to try to accommodate as many people as we possibly can.

Senator Gallagher asked how often the route is reviewed. The answer to that is that routes are reviewed on an ongoing basis. If there is a particular problem with a route, for example if the route is still operating along a road where nobody is living any more, that should certainly have been brought to the attention of the local school transport office. If there is no one on the route we can certainly review that.

The question of whether buses are adequately adapted was also raised by Senator Gallagher. He mentioned that that was through the coach, tourism and transport council, CTTC, submission. The answer to that question is yes. When we are procuring the buses or taxis we ensure that we get a suitable vehicle for the needs of the children for that service. The answer to that is yes, they are adequately adapted, whether with ramps, wheelchair lift access or a taxi in the case of a preschool autistic child. Whatever the case may be they are adequately adapted.

I apologise for the length of this response but there were many questions.

Deputy Moynihan asked a number of questions. He asked about the average distance, the distance being different depending on which way one travels on the road system. That would require a change in policy. The current policy is the shortest traversable distance.