Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start where Deputy O'Callaghan left off. I thank the Minister the Minister of State for the hard work they are doing. The fact that schools have remained open is a massive plus. It has been a major sigh of relief for parents that schools have remained open, especially for working parents.

I will start by mentioning substitution. Over recent weeks there has been a lot of talk about substitution, and once again I thank the Minister for the steps that she has taken, most recently with the block release of student teachers and with allowing people to work over their 22-hour contracts at second level. These are massive steps that will help to alleviate the concerns around substitution.

Some issues have been flagged to me by parents, especially in the area of buses and school transport. Some emails are coming in to me from schools with parents expressing concern about the turnover of buses and the sanitisation of buses between drop-off and collection. I want to flag with the Minister that this is a concern expressed to me by parents. Perhaps it could be taken up with Bus Éireann.

We are finding it quite difficult to get people as bus escorts for students with autism spectrum disorder, ASD. There are also issues where a couple of schools had to fund people privately. There is the case of Clogheen Kerry Pike National School in particular. I will flag that separately with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, in an email with regard to the funding of that ASD bus escort.

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for the work they are doing. It is appreciated. I can follow up with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, offline with regard to that ASD bus escort.