Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My second query is on school transport because I am aware that it has informed some of the negotiations with the trade unions in recent weeks. I still have concerns on school transport and I can highlight one specific case in my constituency in which three schools are together on one campus and different groups of students attending those three schools are all mixing and congregating on the one bus. I would hope that clarity could be given to Bus Éireann in that particular case that this practice cannot be allowed to continue. Where it is highlighted, it needs to stop. How will we get school transport back up and running when the schools resume?

My third query is on a special needs school in Cork. I am grateful to the Minister of State for acknowledging that there is a need for a new special education school in Cork. I understand that investigations have been conducted by one education provider into Montenotte House in Cork North-Central, where we have a long waiting list for children to attend a special education school. Is the Minister of State aware of any update in that regard? I am fully conscious that we are talking about the need for special education students to return to school in the coming weeks but there are 67 children in Cork city and county in the greater Cork city area who will have no school to go to in September.

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