Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My next question relates to school transport, which others have mentioned. We finally resolved one of our local issues this week, thankfully. The solutions to this do not lie with the Department, if the Minister does not mind me saying so. Earlier today the transport committee had Stephen Kent from Bus Éireann in. When a problem arises in a constituency office, you learn as you work your way through it. If I was asked five months ago why we could not get drivers over 70 to drive buses, I would have probably said it is the Department of Education and we need to go the Minister. We quickly found out it is not the Department and it is not law; it is a Bus Éireann policy. Bus Éireann has decided to keep this rule and it is ludicrous that the morning drop-off to school and afternoon collection from school has to be done by a driver under the age of 70 but during the day, if a class is brought to the local swimming pool, match or cinema or on a school tour, the driver can be over 70. It makes no sense. The answer lies with Bus Éireann and is outside of Government but I hope the Minister will advocate for that. Many problems arose this year but we will find ourselves at the end of this academic year potentially facing more problems.