Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I have a couple of questions to deal with. I cannot deal with a specific case here as it would not be appropriate, but I have discussed this case with the Deputy and hopefully we will get an answer on that.

There are pressures in this area. The budget for school transport has gone down by 8% or 9% over the last three or four years. There is an issue of demographics and pressure from other areas, so many changes have been brought in. In the 2011 budget the rules did change, which is causing much confusion. This change also causes a situation where families might be availing of transport to one school but siblings cannot follow to the same school. That is a difficulty. The rules changed three years ago and that will cause a problem for a number of years while each family adapts to the new rules.

The situation to which the Deputy refers is slightly different. Generally we try to find a solution to any issue that is brought to us but we must ensure that the rules are applied in the same way across the country and are applied fairly. I would be very strong on that; there must be fair implementation of the rules across the board. However, if there is a situation where a problem can be solved, we will try to solve it, within the constraints. The Deputy's situation is a little different and we will examine it. In general it is an area under pressure. The budget has been reduced and there was a value-for-money review back in 2011, which brought in changes. I think in the long run these changes will be right, but they will cause difficulty in the first few years of implementation.