Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the Deputy's last question. I will get the Department to come back to the Deputy on the school in Ballincollig specifically. I am aware that it is a fairly constrained site. That limits capacity from a technical point of view as to what can be done or not done. A technical site analysis would be required. I can discuss that with the Deputy afterwards and go into greater detail.

On the special schools, classes and places, as a broad line, I will say that we are absolutely determined that the places required will be in place for September 2024. There is a huge body of work. I outlined it earlier. Additional staffing is now being made available to the NCSE so it can do its work. The purpose of having the SENO in place is to ensure that it can work directly with the parents and guardians. Just today, I announced €800 million in funding for this particular stage of our development, which concerns planning and building. That includes 139 special classes. We know there is a requirement over the next number of years to keep that going as well. We are keeping the matter under review and we will be happy to engage with the Deputy specifically on whichever of those classes he wants to instance.

On school buses, we engage on an ongoing basis. Bus Éireann is engaging on a daily basis.

The Department engages on a daily basis with Bus Éireann. Bus Éireann, in turn, is engaging with contract providers, whether it is the bus operators or subcontractors, whatever the case might be. We constantly keep that under review.

No routes that are in place will be lost. It is an ambitious target, as has already been outlined in terms of what we would hope to achieve. It is ambitious because, as it stands at the minute, more than 161,000 children are availing of the school bus system. I would like to see more. I know the benefit of it. We are doing all we can. We have daily meetings and monthly meetings with everybody concerned to ensure we are getting the maximum out of the opportunity to ensure that everything is in place notwithstanding the specific difficulties.

There are difficulties. Where a country is near full employment there are difficulties, whether in retail, hospitality or, very specifically, in the area of provision of buses and bus drivers, etc.. but we are working through it. I thank the Deputy.