Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Ms Conduit and Ms Kearney for coming in. School transport is a no-brainer. Expanding it makes sense in terms of traffic, emissions and the money in parents' pockets. It also makes sense for the Department and the system. Senator Pauline O'Reilly made the point that there are difficulties with this every year and decisions arrived at or allocation of places for local communities are very hard to fathom. It certainly has been exacerbated this year and I have to say to the Minister that the Department should have seen this coming and should have anticipated the impact of this and prepared to find the additional capacity over the course of the summer months.

Many of the stories the Minister and the rest of us have heard about this matter relate to families and children who feel particularly let down and who have come to rely on school transport in recent years. One builds one's life around the school run or the school bus and the arrangements that have to be made. There are five, six or seven things that must happen each a morning, as I am sure the Minister knows. Those people feel particularly let down. Many of them would have applied on time and would have got a place on the bus only for somebody else to apply later on after the process was reopened. Why were those who applied on time, and who would have got a concessionary place in other years, not prioritised over late applicants?