Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and Deputy Michael McGrath for dealing with this issue. I acknowledge what the Minister of State said about his own situation in Wexford and I am sure there are many such cases. I have a question about the mechanics of how and when, and the delay. In the case of St. Vincent's day care, a wonderful institution in Tipperary Town, it had literally bought a bus when this cropped up. Those people got good support from a certain equine industry across the border in Limerick - we in Tipperary never refuse money from any county. I salute J.P. McManus for this. They wrote to him, he assessed it and he did this. However, they are stuck with this difficulty. Many organisations are in the same position and this is the time of year when they are changing vehicles and garages might have special deals. In this case, however, the group has bought the bus.

It was pointed out that "chiefly" is a very important word in this regard, which I accept. How long will this change take? This group has bought the bus and it cost them a fortune as it is not an old bus. As Deputy Fitzmaurice said, the roads are not great and this bus was just a bad model, so it was hard luck they ended up with it. The dealer told them it would cost too much to keep it going and that they should take it off the road. This is what they have done. They went looking for money and have been fundraising, which they would have been doing anyway. It is the difference between seeing people get out of this day care centre or not. The group has volunteer drivers much of the time. This is very necessary and I hope the bureaucracy will not delay it too long. The Minister of State might give some clarification as to when it will be enacted.

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