Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives of the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Bus Éireann. The roll-out of the bus system for schools was a good idea and I availed of it when I attended secondary school in 1968, which is a good few years ago now. While it was a great scheme when it was rolled out, there is always a "but". I am a rural Deputy representing County Kilkenny and every year, from July onwards, school transport, in particular concessionary tickets, causes me a major headache. I will focus on that issue today. As I mentioned, the service is good for most but it is not good for those who are left behind. That is the problem. I hear daily about problems and even last week a constituent with four children contacted me here in Leinster House about a problem.

Most parents work nowadays and it is not like it was years ago, when one parent stayed at home while the other was the breadwinner. It has changed and both parents must work, so getting children to and from school is the issue. The Fianna Fáil Party did some research for the 2016 general election and we updated the results this year. It found that 350 pupils with concessionary tickets did not access the school transport service this year and that €4 million would be sufficient to cover the costs involved. I accept that is a simplified version and rolling out services to this group would be a different job for Bus Éireann. It is small money in the overall purse of taxpayers' money. The Department and the Minister should address the issue. I repeatedly bring it to his attention.

There was a recession and we changed the rules in 2009 or 2010. Now that the recession is over, we should review the scheme and look after the 350 children who have been left behind this year, if my figure is correct. We should try to include them in the school transport scheme. Will the witnesses comment on that first?