Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I am not lecturing the Minister but informing her about what is happening. Another case I have encountered involves a parent who has a child with a behavioural problem attending a special needs school. The child in question was kicked off a bus by a driver and the parent was told that the child's behaviour could not be tolerated. The woman in question travels 90 miles per day from the heart of the Enniscorthy district to Wexford and back because of a child's behavioural problem on a school bus. She was offered 60 cent per mile to bring her child to school. When I asked her whether it would not be much handier to have an assistant on the bus, she replied that the Department was not prepared to provide an assistant but had offered her money to bring her child to school. It is neither acceptable nor fair that a parent must travel 90 miles per day to take a child to school.

See this speech in context