Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and her officials for attending. I will use the short time I have to focus on school transport. There is great concern across the country, including in my constituency of Dublin Fingal, regarding the provision of school transport and its future, and, indeed, if we will have sufficient school transport for the entire academic year of 2020-2021. My first question concerns something that took place on 20 August, when the Bus Éireann portal for the registration of and payment relating to school transport shut down. This has never happened before. We all know this is a busy time of year and, as public representatives, we have all dealt with school transport issues in August and September in previous years.

As regards the shutting down of that portal, was the Minister briefed on it by either the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport or senior officials in Bus Éireann, and what was the thinking behind shutting it down at that time?