Ms Breda Corr:

I will address the training issue because it was raised by a few people. There is no other real issue for me. Deputies Moynihan and Martin spoke about nurses. As far as we are aware, there are no nurses available for transport. It is very rare that this happens and the Department does not supply it. As I said at the last meeting of this committee I attended, we are lucky to get nurses in schools. A nurse is not supplied unless the HSE supplies one to the family and the family then uses that time for the bus. We have had many queries about the issues of nurses. As I already said, we had a pilot training programme in Galway. We picked Galway because there was a plethora of schools. A Gaeltacht school, the only special school as Gaeilge in the country, a primary school and post-primary school were also involved. That was 2013, so it is a good while ago. Money was an issue for the Department and for everyone. I can send the evaluation to anyone who wants it. It involves the role of the bus escort, policy and legislation and understanding students with special educational needs, so it is more than autism, medical issues, critical incidents, report writing and record keeping, manual handling and positive behaviour strategies. That is the outline of the programme. The only way that would be paid for would be out of the extra amount that the schools get for administration of the scheme or in capitation.

The information is available. If anyone wants it I can send it on.

Today, everyone has alluded to the length of the bus route from the point of view of children without special educational needs. I know that Deputy Rabbitte is from Galway. If children with special educational needs had to travel from either end of Galway to Galway city to attend a special school the journey would take two hours each way, which is not on. I was involved in the rural transport programme in Laois a long time ago. An American transport consultant who happened to live in the area recommended a travel journey of an hour maximum each way because people have different needs, particularly people with disabilities and the elderly. One could push the journey time to a little more than an hour but it would result in behavioural difficulties.