Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have been listening to the debate from my office and we have all experienced many of the complaints and issues raised by Members across the House. One of the issues that really frustrates us as public representatives is the poor communication response we get. I am sure the people in the Bus Éireann office are overwhelmed and overrun with queries, complaints and issues. I know they are probably doing their best to answer us, but it really does put us in a very poor position when we cannot even get the answers for the parents and children who are not getting buses. County Wicklow was particularly badly affected and still continues to be so. I am going to a meeting in Moneystown in the county on Thursday evening.

I cannot get information on when the bus services for Laragh, Moneystown, Ashford and Rathdrum will be up and running. That is not good enough. It is not good enough for the parents, as outlined by other speakers, who have to postpone their work start times and make all sorts of arrangements that rely on family members or friends. People are operating an ad hocsystem. For all parents, the primary motivation is to ensure our children are looked after and safe. People are having to resort to all sorts of arrangements for that purpose. It is not good enough at all.

If the Minister of State takes just one point back to the Department, I ask that it be the need to improve communication. I have sent emails that have gone unanswered since August. I am at a loss as to what I will say as a Government representative attending a public meeting on Thursday night, where all the criticism relating to the bus service will be levelled at the Minister for Education. I really would like to have a response from the Department before Thursday that would give some hope to those parents. As it stands, I will be going there with nothing.

Responsibility for school transport provision should go into the Department of Transport. The latter deals with every aspect of transport in the country except for the school bus system. We introduced free school transport last year, which increased the numbers participating. We really failed to produce the services required to meet the expanded demand. We only have to look at the situation in our schools to see that is true. We need to consider school transport in much broader terms than just rural school bus services. Much of the morning traffic congestion in our towns and villages is a consequence of people driving their children to school because the roads are not safe for cycling and the footpaths are too narrow for walking. Parents become concerned for their children's well-being and that leads to more parents driving the children to school. We need to look in its entirety at the question of how we get our children to school in a safe manner.

I ask the Minister of State to get back to me before Thursday with a response on the issues in Moneystown. That would at least mean I can go to the meeting and tell the parents that although we have failed in the past three weeks to provide a bus service, we are working on it and should have something for them in the short term.

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