Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Go raibh maith agat and I encourage others to read the research.

Yes, the school transport system is under incredible pressure. It always has been and always will be. In terms of being able to accommodate the maximum number of children, and at a time when we are focusing on all of the climate change and climate action requirements and responsibilities that we have, the system is going to become an ever more important element of the Department's policy and, indeed, the Government's policy in general.

The town concessions that were made in allowing for children attending their second nearest school at post-primary level to access school transport was an exceptionally positive development. Is it the intention of the Department that that would be bedded in permanently in school transport provision in the future? Has analysis been done at to how it might apply at primary level? There will be significant additional costs attached but I know from being a representative of a small rural community, and living in a small rural parish, that there are times when children living within that parish can access school transport going to schools outside of the parish but because of the geography of the parish, they are not entitled to transport within their own parish. That situation can at times dissolve or break down that sense of community and togetherness of rural parishes and, indeed, perhaps urban parishes. I know that this aspect causes a lot of concern at times for both the principals of those schools and the parents involved. Are there plans to permanently bed in the town concessions into the post-primary system and, second, to extend it to the primary system?