Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I want to ask about school transport and the Minister's sense of the opportunity that is there. I have to say it frustrates me as to how many of the gaps are not filled by local services and the potential that is there for scheduled services. We have increasing services through Connecting Ireland and Local Link and it is hoped we will have more in the years ahead. I have any number of examples of issues that arise. One particular example that comes to mind is in Stamullen, where because of the strict criteria in the school transport scheme a large cohort of dozens of pupils are excluded from the school transport scheme. Tweaking it this year or next year might make a difference but what would change it overnight is if the scheduled services that run in the area were immediately made available to young people and ran at a time that suited the school timetables.