Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking the opportunity not only to be here tonight but for re-arranging the session we were supposed to have last week.

We all agree the restrictions have been hard on many people and many different sectors. They have had unintended consequences which have placed particular difficulties on how people go about their lives.

Keeping schools open has been particularly important for everybody in the Chamber and in society. With the level 5 restrictions in place, Dublin Bus is only operating at 25% capacity. It creates undue hardship on service users in Dublin and on school children who are trying to get a bus to and home from school.The capacity is simply not there to deal with the level of demand needed.

While I am raising the issue with the Minister tonight, I am sure I am not the first one to do so through parliamentary questions and otherwise.

It is important that we work to rectify the problems.

I have in front of me a case study report from a school in my constituency, St. Declan's College in Cabra. The report gives a sense of what is happening for pupils in the school and the difficulties they are experiencing. Students have been left waiting for up to two and a half hours in the evening before a bus arrives with sufficient capacity to take them home. Those children are not getting home until close to 6 p.m., having waited in the cold, and must then eat their dinner and do their homework. Some students have to walk 1 or 2 miles further down the road to see whether there is an emptier bus that they can board. Students have reported as many as 15 buses passing by as they stand waiting. Some bus drivers allow passengers to get off their bus but do not allow the schoolchildren to board. There is an obvious and very real safety risk that comes with having schoolchildren standing at the side of the road in wet, cold and inclement conditions. The situation in the morning is equally as bad as in the evening, which is resulting in children arriving to school late and missing their first class, with all the consequences that go with that. I am interested to hear how the Minister intends to rectify this problem.

See this speech in context