James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here. This issue, as we all know, is hugely contentious in rural areas. I want to acknowledge the point that has been made by my colleague in Cork North-Central, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, that this year has seen a huge increase in the number of people who are taking bus transport. Due to the work that is being done by the Department, difficulties have arisen. In my constituency of Cork East, in a number of areas, villages, towns and market towns where the secondary schools are located, difficulties have become apparent. I mention places like Killavullen and Glenville over the border in Cork North-Central, which affects Rathcormac in my constituency. I mention Kilcredan and other areas like Kildinan. We have seen issues erupt in these areas where people are located between the market towns of the constituency of Cork East and Cork North-Central.

I want to thank the Minister, Deputy Foley, for being there to assist with these cases. A point I want to make, which is pertinent, is that the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform must come in and back up the Department of Education more coming into this budget, because the Department of Education needs funding to provide a better service. We have seen that more people are being provided with transport services this year and the review is ongoing but we must put our money where our mouths are when it comes to funding for the Department of Education in this respect. There is only so much that any Minister can do. I know that the Minister, with her experience from teaching in the east Cork area, has done everything she can to help me, within the boundaries of reason. However, she is dealing with Bus Éireann to try to provide that additional capacity. Bus Éireann has fought tooth and nail in so many cases in my constituency, as has happened in Cork North-Central, to almost prevent people who should be entitled to get public transport to get to and from their schools through concessionary bus places.

It is something that is so frustrating. The reason it is worth referencing why this is frustrating is as follows. There are so many working households and I mention the social fabric of Ireland. Even since I was a primary school child growing up in Ireland in the noughties and going into secondary school in 2010, which is not that long ago, I saw the fabric of households change. There are more single-income households and parents that form dual-income households where parents are both working now, when traditionally there would have been a stay-at-home parent in many households. The fabric of society has changed in this respect, which is for the better, where everybody who is in a position to work is potentially doing so, and we have fewer people voluntarily staying at home. However, that has created difficulty with capacity requirements for school transport, where there is no person to take people home in the afternoons. I remember my grandfather, Lord have mercy on him, who used to take me to and from primary school, and I was lucky enough to have him for so many years. Now, when people are under pressure to get to and from their places of work, their finishing times are 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. and that is why it is imperative that we provide more capacity.

It is worth referencing the fact that in the countryside there is a huge desire on behalf of people to take a greener option to get children to and from school and to have more sustainable options. However, all of that comes down to funding. I will fire one shot across the bow. Below in Portlaoise there is a bus depot with over 100 buses parked and they cannot operate because they are on hybrid charging infrastructure that has not been installed yet. Despite this, the buses were purchased and they are sitting there idle. That goes to show why the Department of Transport needs to be a little bit more creative in co-operating with other Departments, including the Department of Education, and we are lucky to have the Minister for Education with us. The Department of Transport must use its additional funding and resources to assist the Department of Education in providing that additional school bus transport capacity at post-primary and primary level. Hopefully next year we will see a further increase in the number of people using public transport to get to and from school. We appreciate the assistance of the Department.

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