Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a very good question and I thank the Deputy for raising it. One thing that we did not have on our side, and I will probably be accused of not getting guidelines in quickly enough, was that schools were allowed to open as recently as last Friday week. We have been working on this for two weeks. We are working continually on the school transport issue with a focus on August and September. The solution that we have come up with for the interim is that we will give a grant to parents. I acknowledge that will not be a solution for every parent. The Deputy mentioned children with severe and potentially profound intellectual disabilities, who normally have an escort on the bus. It was a challenge to come up with a potential solution in such a short time but we are giving a grant directly to parents to use in whatever way is possible for them. We are monitoring this as well.

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