Mr. Damian White:

With respect, I disagree with the Deputy on the procurement issue because schools and school principals, particularly teaching principals, are inundated with work. They have a volume of work, even without this crisis, that is unacceptable in the modern age. Any support we can get centrally would be welcome and necessary. That does not mean goods cannot be procured from local companies and that better local deals cannot be had. We should by all means go for that but we need to have support centrally.

As recently as yesterday, I was talking to a bus operator and we went through all of the issues that are concerning the bus companies. These issues include the number of people they can safely carry on buses; the number of schools they are servicing with one bus on one morning or evening; the significant cost of cleaning, which is not factored into what they are getting from the authorities that are handing out the contracts; the loading of buses on and off as there is talk about filling buses from the back-----