Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I too want to commend the joint task force. I think it was an exemplary piece of work. Obviously, resources are a significant issue.

I want to raise the issue of school transport. When will the review be published? This comes up every year, but I do not believe I have seen a year worse than this one. There are special needs children without school transport services. We are seeing children who did not get their first or second choice schools finding a place in their third choice school but not having a transport system that can get them there. It costs €800 for a seat on a private bus. The Taoiseach has talked about the cost of living. Try doing that with a couple of kids. We can see the kind of pressure that is put on families. It is chaotic. We have cases of one sibling getting a bus ticket and another one not getting a ticket. Children are being told they can have a service but they have to walk 4.5 km to get there. It is chaotic. People are juggling work and other commitments and not managing to get their children to school. It is just outrageous what is going on.

See this speech in context