Mr. Richard Dolan:

I apologise if I fail to deal with any of the multiple issues which have been raised.

From an overarching point of view, this is predominantly a rural scheme which we think is working. A total of 117,000 children are transported twice a day, at a cost of €190 million, as has been said. It is certainly working for these children. Some of the issues raised by members about rural issues at a local level such as GAA clubs, religion and so on highlight the challenges in designing a national scheme with set criteria that apply in all local areas. We certainly accept that designing such a scheme that will work in every parish in the country is a significant challenge.

Several members asked if the scheme was demand led. Yes, it is. Everybody who is eligible for school transport should either have a place on a school transport service or be in receipt of the remote area grant. From that point of view, it is certainly demand led.

The issue of special needs children travelling on buses was raised. Where possible, we encourage special needs children to travel on a mainstream school bus with their siblings. In fact, the special needs scheme stipulates that one should only apply if one cannot avail of mainstream school transport. Therefore, we are in agreement on that point.

I think the review mentioned is the concessionary review which was published in the summer of 2016 by the Minister of State, Deputy John Halligan. It is on our website, but we can distribute it to members.