Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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My questions are aimed at getting a logistical understanding of what happens. Most of the emails that come to me relate to transport for special education rather than mainstream transport issues. I was supporting a couple of mothers in connection with the former issue. It was very difficult to understand who was responsible for Garda vetting. I was told there was a gap of four months following the allocation of a place for a child in a special school and the child being allocated a space on a bus, but then the parents were told that because there were no escorts in place there would have to be a Garda vetting process. The delay lasted months. Whose responsibility is Garda vetting and why does it take so long? I am aware there is a process involved but I am interested in hearing whether there is planning for the year ahead and the reason a child would have to miss four months of school because there is no escort. What provisions are put in place to ensure that escorts are Garda vetted?

Another thing I do not understand relates to eligibility. Some children will be eligible every year so why does the issue come up annually? Why is there not a multi-annual system of admission for school transport rather than having a 12-month cycle? The situation of children with special needs who are attending a special school is definitely not going to change and I do not understand why they are not given a three-year pass, for example, rather than dealing with the same applications over and over again and then the system could pick up on the more problematic issues that fall through the cracks.

My other concern relates to customer service. Is it only in place for a certain part of the year? Given that children with special needs must sometimes wait until January, for example, before they are given a place in a special school is a customer service process in place to deal with late applications?