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

Getting students back to school has been a major undertaking and a monumental task at individual school level, supported by a subvention of €375 million from the public purse. In addition, this week the leaving certificate results were issued and tomorrow CAO offers will be made. There have been positive Covid cases in some schools and a variation in how they have been handled. All of this has generated queries.

It is easy to miss another issue which has not received sufficient attention. On 18 August, NPHET recommended that school transport for secondary schools students apply the same social distancing as is the case with public transport. That was understood to mean that an additional 1,600 buses would be required.

Because of the requirements being changed so close to school reopening, there was a very short lead-in time. That is almost expired. Even more problems will emerge in the next week or two as a consequence of that. Many people are saying that there was a huge effort and financial resources deployed in getting schools opened but there is a sense of disbelief and frustration that getting students to the same schools is still chaotic. There is no end in sight and it is impossible for parents to get information. The school transport system causes real problems every year but Covid has amplified those problems. For those with a medical card and attending the nearest school, transport is provided. For those who do not have a medical card and are attending the nearest school, if there is spare capacity, they will be accommodated for a charge. These are called as concessionary passengers. If there is no spare capacity, they have to make their own arrangements.

Many of those who are not attending the nearest school are doing so because there is no capacity in the nearest school and they could not get a place. Because of this they are not necessarily entitled to a place on the school bus because they are not attending the nearest school. Schools and parents sometimes organise private sector buses between them. The new social distancing requirement also apply to them and there is no subsidy. To be viable for private operators, they are effectively saying that parents will have to pay for to school places to achieve the social distancing unless there is a subsidy. That is not attainable for some for households with multiple children.

In addition, Dublin Bus normally introduce a school timetable when schools return but they have been unable to do so because the National Transport Authority, NTA, have not funded such a timetable.

Is additional funding being made available to deliver the school transport, including the NTA and the Dublin Bus timetable? What is the timeline for getting transport fully in place? Will a subsidy be considered and provided for those who have to hire additional private buses because of the new social distancing rules?

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