Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have two comments and one question. I could not agree more with what Ms Aoibhínn Doyle said about the buses, the connectivity and that linkage between them. I live in Mullingar and if someone wants to get public transport to Galway, he or she has to get the bus to Athlone and then a train to Galway. There may be a 40-minute gap between a bus and a train arriving and back again. Financially, when you weigh it up, there is no difference and therefore people drive. The incentive needs to be there. I am also aware of situations whereby the bus may be available to get from A to B but there is no return bus from B to A. There are bizarre situations of State-owned bus companies driving past schools one hour before and after a school finishes and parents driving over to pick them up. That linkage is critically important if we want a public transport infrastructure which is multi-purposed and not simply about getting people to work or to social activities.

Ms Murphy said something about the links with the green schools. To my mind, the local authorities in my own constituency are absolutely wonderful with bags, gloves, litter pickers and the whole nine yards, but I wonder why they are not down in the library on a Saturday handing out these things. There are more teenagers in the library on a Saturday than will be found anywhere else during the week outside of a school setting. I refer to engaging with them where they are, as Mr. Irfan said, and that is exactly where they are.

We have covered the curriculum, secondary and third level education and the opportunities and challenges that are based there. We have covered transport. The question which we have not come to is in the context of sustainability and climate action and what needs to happen to our educational buildings. While we have seen pilot programmes around the rolling out of PV panels in some areas, what else needs to happen? Reducing food waste or other such things within the schools is really positive, but a lot of our school buildings are very old. A lot of their BER ratings are quite low and they have high levels of need for electricity and heating simply because of the buildings. In the witnesses' opinion, what needs to happen with our actual buildings in which we provide education?