Noel Grealish (Galway West, Progressive Democrats)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the matter of the school bus transport system. I have pursued this issue, through various channels, since the beginning of the year but I regret my efforts have ultimately proved unsuccessful. This is a matter not just of common sense, but of fairness.

The catchment areas for our school transport system were first put in place in the 1960s. Consequently, they are not only out of date but wholly inadequate. I understand from my correspondence with the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, that the school transport system was not designed to facilitate parents who choose to send their children to a school outside the catchment area where they live. This makes no sense. While we must have order and a workable system, unless parents are acting in an unreasonable manner, the system should facilitate them.

A school transport system which, in the case of the constituency of Galway West, cannot transport 130 children to school is a failing system. School transport catchment areas may be in place to protect the number of pupils enrolling in various schools. When the parents of 130 children in Claregalway and Carnmore in the Galway city catchment area are effectively denied a school bus system, with the result they must drive their children to school, the system has clearly become unfair.

Considering my own area, approximately three or four miles from the Oranmore school where 130 pupils are in attendance, the school bus system going into Galway city is at capacity. Even if the pupils were going to a school in the city, another bus service would have to be put on for them. It is unfair that in the region of 100 parents are driving their kids to school in the mornings. A recent survey done in Dublin indicated that 70% of parents are beginning to drive their children to school. That is wrong, and we should really examine the school transport system.

Parents have a right, within reason, to send their children to whatever nearby school they choose. The school has the right, within reason, to be served by the school bus system. In raising this issue I also suggest a solution. Consideration could be given to making locations like Claregalway a dual catchment area for the purpose of school bus transport. If 130 children from the Claregalway and Carnmore areas are travelling to school in Oranmore despite being in the Galway city catchment area, change is needed.

If it is the case that new legislation is required to end this, we should get on with it. This House is often accused of working on legislation which has little real effect on the daily lives of families. Furthermore, legislators often claim that many of the daily issues are out of their control. From what I can gather, this is one issue causing significant hardship for hundreds of families across this country and not just in Galway. It affects many schools across the country, and it is an issue on which we can make a positive difference.

I ask the Minister of State to examine this matter closely and commit to seeking and enacting measures to end this unfair and nonsensical situation. The parents of these schoolchildren, the pupils themselves and the schools deserve no less.

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