Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister for Transport is here. This week Bus Éireann announced that it is to scrap a number of its Expressway routes, significantly reducing connectivity between our major cities and the regions. The removal of the X8 service between Dublin and Cork, for example, will have a major impact on students and commuters travelling from Tipperary to either Cork or Dublin and patients travelling for hospital appointments if they can ever get one these days. Cork and Shannon Airports are facing a serious crisis and our rail services are nearly non-existent in terms of connectivity.

The programme for Government commits to prioritising public transport projects that enhance regional and rural connectivity yet six months in, we are learning that the Government is shutting down services instead of promoting them. At the same time, appallingly, 3,100 students have been refused school transport tickets this year. I understand the Government had agreed last year to have a review in an effort to sort this out and do something about the situation. It is providing money for physical distancing to Bus Éireann contractors only. Where will that come from?

What extra funding has been allocated to ensure the 3,100 students will get a school bus ticket? From a green point of view, it is astounding. How can the Minister for Transport stand over instances where in the same household two siblings can get a ticket but one cannot? That is bullying of young children and the pressure it is putting on their parents is disgraceful. Then the parents, grandparents or carers must get into a car to follow the bus down the road to the school. How does that fit in with the green agenda?

In October 2019, the then Minister announced a review of the school transport scheme to ensure funds are being spent in the most effective way to meet the objectives of the scheme. Terms of reference and everything else were agreed, but now because of Covid it has all been abandoned. The school transport scheme is a pure mess.

I know a man in Cloneen in Tipperary, Michael O'Brien, whose daughter Bianca is a recovering cancer patient and doing well, thank God. He has to drive her to school. He must make a choice between work and his child. Obviously, his child comes first so he has had to give up his job. This is shameful. The bus passes quite close but she cannot get a ticket on it. It is not acceptable that the review of the school transport scheme has been delayed because of Covid. With 3,100 students left to find alternative arrangements, the Government needs to sort this urgently. It is beyond urgent; it should have been sorted last year.

The future of the X8 Expressway service is in jeopardy and we cannot get a train out of Clonmel, Cahir or Carrick-on-Suir before 9 a.m. any morning. The bus service is very poor. I salute the private carriers and others, whom the Minister knows, who do the work there. We have 85,000 people waiting for driving tests. They are not allowed to drive and they cannot get on the system. The system is badly broken. I ask the Minister for Transport to try to fix it.

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