Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

7 o’clock

I welcome the Minister of State’s forthright response and his obvious determination to bring about a resolution to these difficulties. It will not cost millions of euro. The moneys involved are small amounts, yet it is so important to families. We know families are stressed out at the beginning of the school year with various back-to-school costs. Additional difficulties with school transport and concerns about getting children to school just add awful further stress to families, in particular if both parents are working or there is only one parent in the home. Any measures to deal with the difficulties on the ground are welcome.

We do not factor in enough the importance of the school transport service in regenerating rural areas and keeping rural Ireland alive. Every rural Member will have had a call from a couple intending to set up a family home in a rural area inquiring about the level of school transport in a particular rural area. It determines whether people will live in particular areas. It is a practical matter with which parents have to deal.

I welcome the Minister of State's commitment to bring a practical approach to this issue. I have come across some instances of children who had school transport to a primary school but none when they went on to post-primary school, even though they were both in the same catchment areas. Either we have feeder primary schools into second level or not.

I would be glad to participate in the meeting proposed by the Minister of State. It would be welcome if he was able to give out a clear message that common sense will prevail on the ground. We cannot be measuring routes over mountains and bog roads as the nearest distance between a home and post-primary school.

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