Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Earlier this year the Government announced, to another fanfare, that it would give free school transport to everyone. That has caused untold trouble, unease and anguish for everybody. The Government must have known that the system was not fit for purpose in any case and has not been for a long number of years and now it is chaos. The fact is 15,000 children are now being shut out completely, some of whom had places or concessionary tickets. This has caused absolute bedlam but the Government wanted announce it and praise it. No thought went into it at all and it has had an adverse effect on school transport. Things are far worse now than they were any other year and they were bad enough previously. What is the Government going to do to correct the unholy mess it has created for pupils who cannot get places on school buses?

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