Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue which is of considerable importance not only to two families in my constituency, but to young adults in general who may have a disability. It concerns the need for the Department of Education and Skills to show flexibility in the use of transportation for young adults from Cavan who are attending Midway Services in County Meath, bearing in mind paragraph 4.13 on page 66 of the Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services in Ireland which states: "Service providers should examine the possibility of sharing transport resources on a cost neutral basis with other local service providers/community groups taking into account the recent announcement of plans for the Department of Transport to integrate local transport services."

Recently I was contacted by two families in Cavan, both of whom have an 18 year old daughter with an intellectual disability. Both recently turned 18 years of age, graduated from St. Ultan's secondary school in Navan and are attending Midway Services, also in Navan, County Meath. While attending St. Ultan's secondary school, both availed of transport on a Bus Éireann school bus from their homes to school. The Department of Education and Skills has deemed both ineligible to avail of the service as they are 18 years of age and deemed to be adults and no longer in mainstream education.

It is the intention of the two families that the two young women will use public transportation on their own in the short term but the parents and support workers at Midway Services agree it will be some time before they will be able to travel unaccompanied. This proposal is a temporary solution only. In the interim, the hope is that both could continue to travel to Midway Services on the Bus Éireann school bus. Both of them used this bus service previously when they attended St. Ultan's secondary school until May 2012 before turning 18.

The bus travels past their houses every day with empty seats. I understand there may be some concerns around child protection given that they are 18 years of age. As the bus driver is an adult and there is an adult escort on the bus, the two young women are not deemed by professionals to be threatening to children, quite the contrary. As they know the children on the bus, having previously travelled on it, and are from the community, this makes no sense and is grossly insulting. It was a practice in the past to do this. On one previous occasion in my constituency a young woman in a similar situation was allowed to avail of the school transport scheme from her home to an adult day service in County Meath. As a goodwill gesture, the Department and the Health Service Executive allowed this to take place. The sharing of services took place in the good days in the times of plenty, but in times of economic restriction and constraint it is proposed to do the opposite and to pile up the costs.

The parents of one of those two young women have other young children, are both working out of economic necessity and are not in a position to drive the children. The parents of the other young woman are elderly. The mother is awaiting hospitalisation for serious issues and they are not in a position to take the children to Midway Services. It defies logic that a bus travels past their houses which they would have used a few months ago, that the seats are available and that it is only proposed to allow them travel as a interim solution. It defies all natural justice and is discriminatory, wrong and bizarre.

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