Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I thank the witnesses for being here. I acknowledge the scale of the work they are managing between Bus Éireann, the Department of Education and Youth, the NCSE and all stakeholders. I welcome the review that has been undertaken. It is my understanding that it will lead to a reduction in the distance criteria and an increase eligibility, but I think the witnesses are saying that the challenges they are outlining today are important for meeting that demand.

I get a lot of emails about school transport, more than I used to. They relate to special education or children with additional needs, but also to a particular area in my constituency, Tyrrelstown and Mulhuddart. I understand why. It is because, at the moment, in that school planning area there is a capacity deficit of more than 1,200 post-primary school places and 60% of the students leave the area to go to school elsewhere. This paints a picture of a lot of student mobility within my constituency. That area is growing rapidly, so students are facing long commutes and they do not have the public transport links to get to the schools in which they are securing places.

I bring to the witnesses' attention to a matter I have raised on several occasions. It is that there are 11 families currently in that area who did not get places in the local school and are travelling to the Ongar school planning area, which is 9 km away. However, they have not been deemed eligible for school transport on the basis that it is not technically their closest school. The school they are attending in Ongar is earmarked to move to their area in 2027. I do not agree that the school in Ongar should be kept and that a separate one should be opened in their area, but that is what is planned. There does not seem to be any forward thinking to accommodate those parents. There is no public transport link to bring them to the school they are attending, which is earmarked to move into their community in two years' time. For the students who are attending that school, if it does move to the new area, there is no forward planning. No assurances are being given to those parents that there will be a school bus going in the opposite direction. All this is leading to unnecessary anxiety among families. We should be accommodating those 11 families on the 9 km school route from Tyrrelstown and Hollywoodrath to Ongar. Assurances should be given that if the school is moved, there will be a route going in the opposite direction.

I will make one other point about the pressure on special schools to manage all the bus escorts and various routes arriving to their schools. Could there be more administrative support for doing? It currently falls to the principals and primarily deputy principals of those schools? More support would be good. There are things that come up consistently from parents such as differences of opinion as to whether things have been paid or not from an administrative point of view and that seems to get in the way of securing concessionary tickets. How can we make this more efficient for parents? It seems to become another thing, especially for parents of children with additional needs, where there is more pressure on them.