Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I know some parents will not thank me for saying this, but I have certainly had parents say they would be willing to pay more. Some people are in a position to pay more while others are not as they may be only above the limit for the medical card. If it is a question of having to leave work for people to get their children safely to school, there is no choice in the matter. I am hearing about parents who are driving behind a bus to bring their children to school and they can see spaces on it. It may well be that there is not a full uptake on the particular day but it may be worth doing a review of that. If there is spare capacity, it would be unconscionable. If we are going to have very large schools in a regional context as opposed to village settings, we have to factor in the need to travel to school. If two adults in a family have to go out to work to pay the mortgage, the State has an obligation to provide a school transport service. I can understand an odd person falling through the cracks but when groups of people are affected, it is very difficult for people to take.

I would like the Minister of State to deal with the case of a child who was turned down for a particular school because it was oversubscribed. I will send him on the details. I do not know why the child would then be counted as a concessionary passenger if the family has a medical card. The child should be entitled to a seat on the school bus without it being concessionary. There were no places in the nearest school, which is typical in my area. I know the same thing is replicated in other areas but Kildare is under particular development pressure which will create new needs because we are not in a static environment.

See this speech in context