Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I accept that many points have been covered but I need to raise a few particular issues. As other members have said, this is a red-hot issue and I have found that to be the case right through the summer and into September in my constituency of Cork North-West in places such as Newcestown and Aubane near Millstreet. The issue of whether their children will have a school transport service is a constant anxiety for parents. It is also is of concern for parents in many other areas stretching from Coachford out to Macroom.

I want to focus on transport for students with special educational needs and those who might need medication administered at school and who would have the facility of a nurse at school. Their parents have told me that they are not able to use school transport unless a nurse is available on the school bus because it would not be possible for the child to have the medication administered in the case of an emergency. In order for children to avail of school transport, are nurses provided on school buses or are carers or drivers trained to administer various medications if students need them? Where parents have a preference for a particular religious ethos and want to send their children a convent school instead of the education and training board, ETB school, that does not seem to be taken into consideration. Some parents in Macroom wanted to send their children to the local convent school but the Coachford ETB school was closer and their children were not accommodated. The latter does not appear to reflect what is in the rules. That is what I have been told by parents but it should not be that way The witnesses might comment on that.

On the criterion relating to the shortest traversable route, even though the school bus may not travel that route, a student's eligibility is measured by this. For example, if there is a one-way street or no right turn and if one can travel to school by one route but cannot return the same way, I have heard that Bus Éireann will only measure the route that is convenient to it. The journey measurement should at least be an average over the distance. A classic example of this is where traffic joins the N22 at Ovens school. There is no right turn to go back towards Ballincollig, one has to go up around Casey's Road or over Kilumney. Turning right at that point is not an option and it adds 1 km or 1.5 km to people's journeys. There should be at least an averaging of the return journey instead of applying the shortest route principle.

The criterion which stipulates the minimum number of eligible passengers is one with which Aubane near Millstreet and many other places would have a particular issue. This matter was highlighted in the review. While much of the review conducted last year indicated it was a case of business as usual, this was one of the criteria to which consideration would be given to there being a degree of flexibility. Has there been any reduction on that or what is the plan for reducing it? It was one of the few issues to be considered.

The stipulation regarding the central school is often lumped in with that relating to the school that is closest. Despite what the name suggests, when other schools in a catchment area have closed, the central school is not necessarily the central or middle school and may be off to one side of the catchment area as in the case of Newcestown in Cork. Families over several generations would have associations - through the parish, the school and the wider community - with the central school, yet when the rule was changed and the shortest distance was applied, it has meant that parents on the eastern end of Newcestown catchment area are being told that their children have to attend schools in other areas such as Cloughduv or Laragh in towards Bandon. Those are not communities with which those families would have associated. Their school, football, hurling and everything is in Newcestown. The same situation is replicated throughout the country. The witnesses must take local associations into consideration.

For example, there could be a case for having some flexibility in the form of several metres, a couple of hundred metres or a kilometre of a band around the shortest distance in order to accommodate the situation and to allow rural communities to retain their identity.