Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Department and the Minister, and indeed Bus Éireann, for the work they are doing in trying to resolve the difficulties. The question I have to ask is why it takes until the schools go back after the summer holidays to deal with this. The schools return in September but we are still dealing with problems right up to October and November. We surely should be able to announce the decisions at an earlier date so that we can resolve the issues.

Another issue I wish to discuss relates to feeder schools. Where a primary school is approached and told it is a feeder school to a secondary school, parents then have the children enrolled in the secondary school and suddenly find they do not qualify for school transport. Surely we should have a mechanism in place whereby when a primary school is a feeder school to a secondary school, transport ishould be automatically provided. In Upper Glanmire, which is a feeder school for Carrignavar, it appears that some of the children are not entitled to get free transport to the school.

The third issue I wish to raise relates to commitments which were given previously. We have the situation in relation to Rathcormac primary school and another school that closed. When it closed a number of years ago, there was a clear commitment given that parents from the area of the school that was closing would have free transport to the primary school the children now have to attend but suddenly this year we find that commitment no longer applies.

There are some issues now resolved. I understand that progress has been made on resolving that problem in Rathcormac and likewise with Glenville. Glenville is a feeder school into Fermoy, but transport is not available for 12 children there. This could be easily resolved by having a bigger bus. There are solutions that can be found but it is a pity they cannot be found earlier in the year, in June, July and maybe even mid-August, rather than trying to sort them out in October and November.

Finally, I want to touch on the issue of discretionary seats raised by a number of colleagues. I have a number of cases where families have discretionary seats for four and five years and suddenly they are told they are not available to them.

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I refer in particular to cases where both parents are working. They have a clear schedule made out but at the last minute, they are suddenly told the discretionary seat is not available. It is important that in cases like that where someone has a discretionary seat, it is not suddenly withdrawn. We need to be far more constructive and innovative in how we deal with this issue. The important thing is the time period for making decisions. We ought to be making them earlier and ensuring that the issues that arise, and issues will arise no matter what one does, can be more easily resolved at an earlier time.

I thank the Department and the Minister for the work that is being done. Hopefully the outstanding issues can be resolved at an early date.

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