Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Chair. I would like to welcome the Minister. I will ask my questions together, so I will not need to come back in.

I really appreciate the good intent behind the 5 July announcement. As a cost-of-living measure, it has certainly had a huge impact on many families, in that there are 124,000 students availing of it. Many families have had savings of up to €500, which is significant. Unfortunately, there are a number of families for whom this has come at a cost. Despite the 21% increase in capacity, which is very welcome, there have been consequences - unintended, I have no doubt. I have spoken to families and public representatives in Kildare and around the country about this. People are at a complete loss. There are families that have had concessionary tickets for years, but now do not. There are families where some children have received tickets and some have not. There are families that have had to take annual leave to try to ensure their children get to school and there are some families that are envisaging getting a second car to bring their children to school. This is a cost-of-living measure, but we are trying to take extra cars off the road.

The fact we are debating this in the fourth week back to school is simply is not good enough. All these issues should be resolved in July and August. The fact is that children and their families are trying to deal with this on a day-to-day basis and are being stressed by it.

I totally accept the Minister has inherited this system and that she has undertaken the review, which will, I hope, see some changes brought in. We should not be using words like "eligible" or "concessionary". This should be a demand-led service that anybody in need should be able to avail of to get to school. We should call it "public transport" as opposed to "school transport". The Minister is correct in what she said about looking at other types of public transport and seeing where we can be in the future.

When does the Minister anticipate that the review findings will be published? Will we, as a committee, have an opportunity to be part of that process? That is going to be significant and will, I hope, overcome many of the challenges that we have at the moment.

On this particular issue, I want to ask the Minister about planning. While numbers are going to vary from year to year, surely the Department and Bus Éireann should be in a position where planning takes place the previous year. On the consultation with Bus Éireann, was there any analysis of data from previous years in terms of the number of people who would possibly avail of this? I would contend that those who applied before 29 April should have gotten their tickets prior to it being reopened.

Communications have been poor. I appreciate that both the Minister's office and Bus Éireann have received an onslaught of communications from families and public representatives, but the fact that people are not receiving responses from Bus Éireann is not good enough.

As regards procuring buses and drivers, while I appreciate the situation with tour buses is different now, we were able to provide extra buses during Covid. I ask that the Minister considers allowing drivers over 70 years of age to drive school buses as they are banned at the moment. The same drivers can bring youngsters to school matches, on tours, etc., but they cannot drive school buses.

Anecdotally, I have heard of tickets being issued to people who did not apply. I have also heard, although I cannot prove it, that some people have used incorrect or previous addresses to be able to meet eligibility criteria. The suggestion has been made to me that proof of address, via a utility bill from the previous year, should be requested.

My final point relates to county borders. A person cannot apply for transport to a school within their county if a school across the border is the nearest school to them. A number of areas must be looked at.