Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a real problem in my constituency. Many children in Lucan are having great difficulty getting to school. Social distancing rules have reduced capacity on our local Dublin buses and our school transport buses. What are the many small bus operators who run just one bus service a day supposed to do? It is just not financially viable for them to operate at half capacity. This creates a real dilemma for bus operators, children and parents. There have been situations in my constituency where children were literally left on the side of the road awaiting collection. Utter panic ensued. Parents stuck in work had no way of ensuring their child got home safely. Even today, a Dublin Bus on the 66 route from Lucan to Leixlip, which runs at a reduced capacity, turned away schoolchildren because there was no room on board the bus.

Joined up Government thinking can help resolve this. A tweak to the pandemic unemployment payment that would enable one of the worst hit sectors of the economy to take on school transport work would be a win-win. What do I mean by this? I mean that bus drivers, whose bread and butter business comes from the tourism trade and bringing US tourists on the Ring of Kerry or collecting holiday makers from cruise liners in Dublin, and who do not want to be sitting at home doing nothing while their buses are parked up gathering dust, are given the opportunity to help resolve this while continuing to claim their payments.

The pandemic unemployment payment was a welcome relief to thousands of people who found themselves unemployed so suddenly in March due to Covid-19. It was put in place seamlessly by the Government and it gave more than 400,000 people hope that they could meet their rent, pay their bills and not need to worry about a roof over their heads. The wage subsidy scheme has been of huge benefit to people in these impacted industries. Unfortunately, six months later, we still find ourselves in uncharted waters. If small bus operators were allowed to retain their payments and do a small amount of work they could help with school transport. Private bus contractors operate approximately 90% of all school transport services. They are all working at reduced capacity. With joined up thinking we could supplement this fleet with buses and bus drivers currently out of work. Will the Minister work with his colleagues, the Ministers with responsibility for education and social protection, to resolve this issue and get small bus operators back to work so children can safely travel to school without disrupting the working week of parents while reducing pressure on the likes of the 66 bus route from Lucan?

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