Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Witnesses will be relieved to hear that I will not go into constituency issues with regard to school transport. I will make a few general comments. Ensuring there is an efficient service that is good value for the taxpayer and that provides safe transport for those who need it is a huge quality-of-life issue for the children, their families and their communities. There are low-income families who receive back to school allowances but because they may live a bit nearer the school than 3.2 km for primary schools or 4.8 km for secondary schools, they may have to pay up to €650, which is a very large amount of money for those who cannot afford it.

We have been talking about the health and safety of the students on the school bus, which is of paramount importance, but we must also think about the health and safety of those children who do not qualify for a school bus because of where they live. There seems to have been a policy whereby school buses have been smaller to dissuade the provision of concessionary spaces to those children who need to access them because there might not be a car at home or parents might not be there because of work. Having to wave good-bye to their child when the child must walk 3 km to school because they could not avail of a space on a bus when 3.2 km is the cut-off point is a very difficult situation for any parent. These are areas we must look at.

It seems that since the Department did away with the catchment areas in 2012, this has caused some of the problems. We have had some good recommendations relating to transport for children with special needs and it would be interesting to hear the views of the Department and Bus Éireann on that.

Witnesses can see by the breadth of questions and concerns from Deputies and Senators that there is a communication problem in terms of trying to get answers. I have certainly experienced that. As late as last week, I was told there is one person working in that area. One cannot even get somebody at the end of the line. Many other services provide a dedicated Oireachtas liaison person. This might be worthwhile so that if Members have particular issues, at least they know they can get through to somebody who could come back even with a rationale for why a decision has been made. I acknowledge the complex job of the Department. When one looks into the number of students and the number of miles travelled every week, one can see that it is a huge job and this must be acknowledged. As Deputy O'Rourke said, we must commend the service for the good work that is being done. Unfortunately, it is at times like this we hear the negativity. Much of that is because Deputies and Senators are not getting an opportunity to voice their concerns or look for reasons specific decisions are made.

I will revert to the witnesses and look for responses. If any of the members feel the need to come back in, that is fine. We will take a second round of questions but I ask everybody to be very brief and to provide an opportunity for the witnesses to come back to me regarding some of the questions they cannot address today. I will ensure that members get the responses.