Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Bruton, on his new portfolio. I am sure it will be no problem to him, as he has served in many other Ministries.

I have to say we do not have discrimination issues in Kerry, Killarney or Tralee. We have people of many different religious denominations attending our national schools and secondary schools. We do not have any issues. I am not aware of them anyway. I have to salute our boards of management and parents' councils for the good work they continue to do to ensure our children are properly seen after. We have no discrimination in Kerry of which I am aware. That is what I have to say.

We certainly have problems in other areas of the school system. Going back the years, if a school closed in an area the Department of Education and Skills gave an undertaking - a written undertaking in many cases - to transport the children of the locality to the central school in the parish free of charge. Sadly, the Department has reneged on that promise or consideration on many occasions. This has hurt many people in rural parishes and caused a great deal of expense for those who now have to bring their children four or five miles - in some cases, the school is six or seven miles away - to school each morning and evening. If a national school bus run does not have ten children, it will not qualify under the free transport scheme. I believe this is unfair, especially as the Department of Education and Skills previously gave an undertaking to transport such children to school free of charge.

I would like to mention an issue that was raised by Deputy Mattie McGrath. I refer to cases in which the older children in a family are attending a school that traditionally has been attended by members of the family in question. Three or four years ago, some bright spark decided that such children should have to attend a nearer school on the basis of a satnav or whatever. It is unfair that the younger children in this family, who would normally have been accompanied to school by their older siblings, now have to go to a different school. I believe all the children in such a family should be entitled to go to the school that was traditionally attended by their family and all the families around them. It is wrong that they are divided and separated now. This change hurt many parents when it was made three or four years ago.

The school transport system needs to cater for all our children, but that is not happening at present. I will give an example. In some cases, a parent needs to have a medical card in order for his or her child to qualify for free school transport. If one parent has a medical card but the other parent does not, their children are denied free school transport. It is very unfair that families in such circumstances have pay €350 for a school transport ticket for each of their children because many of them can ill afford such an expense.

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