Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Teachta Calleary fá choinne a cheapachán mar Aire Stáit. Guím ádh mór air sa phost úr. This is one of the downsides of getting that recent elevation. If Deputy Calleary had not got it, he would be home in his bed now. However, the Minister of State is here into the early hours of the morning. I am glad he is here. This issue does not relate to his Department but I know he will use his influence and communication skills to pass on a couple of messages.

I want to raise an issue in relation to Creeslough in my supplementary, but the purpose of this Topical Issue matter is to raise what I believe is a case of discrimination against students. I do not know how many people in the Minister of State's constituency of Mayo would be going to Magee college in Derry, Queen's University or Jordanstown. It is the case that a student in west Donegal going to Galway who has a Leap card will get upwards of a 50% rebate on the cost of transportation to Ollscoil na Gaillimhe. However, a student from that same parish in west Donegal who is going to Belfast does not get the rebate. There is some sort of a nominal rebate as far as the Border but once the bus hits the Border there is no rebate.

I am encouraged by some of the correspondence I have seen to the effect that there are ongoing discussions but, quite frankly, a meeting needs to be held. Ongoing discussions means that there has been a meeting or maybe more than one meeting, but now there needs to be another meeting. Heads need to be put together here because students feel discriminated against.

Students have always gone to the North. Traditionally, a big percentage of students from my county have gone across the Border and they feel discriminated against. If the granny or granddad of one of these students has a pension and is over 66 years of age, she or he will get free transportation to Belfast. I accept that this comes from a different Department, the Department of Social Protection. I will set out the question I am putting to the Minister of State tonight. If a senior citizen in west Donegal can get free transportation to Belfast, involving a 100% rebate from one Department, why does their grandson or granddaughter not get any rebate as a student in Belfast, Derry or Coleraine? That is my case.

I ask the Minister of State tonight, or rather this morning, to use his position to ask one of his own officials to make contact. I do not know if officials from the National Transport Authority, NTA, will be up at this time of the morning listening to this debate. No doubt they will not, but I hope that there will be follow-up. This is a matter that can and should be, and certainly needs to be, resolved. At the end of the day, if a student in Letterkenny heading down to the beautiful city of Galway is getting 50% back by having a Leap card and his or her next-door neighbour in Letterkenny going to Belfast has to pay the full whack, there is something wrong.

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