Mr. Tomás Ó Ruairc:

That is no problem, Deputy. In a nutshell, the ambition is to grow the school transport capacity by 2030 to have full implementation by that point. However, the challenges are real in terms of the budgetary context, the supply of drivers and the supply of vehicles.

With regard to the nearest school rule, that was kind of foreseen at the time of the report's publication in February 2024. We acknowledged at the get-go that those challenges were even there at that point. We have to do the implementation on a phased basis. That is the reason we have not had a full roll-out of the reduction in the distance criteria and the elimination of the nearest school rule. That is the reason it is not in place, for example, in that particular area. We had the 14 pilots in the last school year, which are a first step in the right direction.

Language is taken into account. The medium of instruction - múineadh trí mheán na Gaeilge - is taken into account. However, there may be local factors on which further detail would give us more insight. For example, for a new service to be established, there has to be a minimum of ten eligible pupils. We are aware, particularly san earnáil lán-Ghaeilge - the Irish medium sector - that this can be a particular challenge within the overall numbers in the school, the numbers who need to avail of school transport and where they are living in relation to the school. They might not actually cross that threshold sometimes or there might not be the minimum number of ten eligibles.