Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have heard what the Taoiseach has said on the issue I raise but I am really at my wit's end in trying to get answers from Bus Éireann for parents in Roscommon and Galway regarding school transport. I acknowledge the waiving of fees. It would have been a roaring success had the capacity been put in to make it work. It would have worked very well. I have one case, for example, involving a child whose mother died last year. The mother would usually have done the application and Bus Éireann told the father that, under the circumstances, it would issue a ticket. That ticket has not issued and I cannot even get hold of someone in Bus Éireann to get an update. I ring Athlone and Galway and am given a number for Dublin. When I ring Dublin, nobody can speak to me because of the general data protection regulation. The communication has been really poor. I do not know whether additional resources were put into Bus Éireann before the announcement on waiving school transport fees was made. It has been a real mess. I ask, in regard to additional capacity for school transport and also in respect of communication, particularly with parents, that things be done far better as we move forward.

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