Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I begin by acknowledging the Minister's well-intentioned idea of last year to provide free school transport. However, it was poorly executed, as there had not been enough forward planning and it was incredibly disappointing to see capped fees reintroduced this year. I hope that next Tuesday there will be a line in the budget to ensure there will not be a reintroduction of full fees next year in this ever-worsening cost-of-living crisis.

Education is still a massive cost for families. It often seems like it is never-ending, especially with fundraising efforts and all that is involved in keeping a school running. That in itself causes families great distress and to have to contend with wondering how a child to school is a whole other level of stress that we do not want to see normalised and to become part of the back-to-school process. It is unacceptable for parents to have to take days off work to drop kids to school and pick them up. It is happening because there are so many holes in the current school transport scheme. Shamefully, kids have been left without a seat. That is not a great footing for a fresh start for any child in a new school year.

I have tabled many written and oral questions to the Minister in recent years about when the school transport review will be concluded and I have never been able to get a concrete answer. Families need real changes now. Access, which is what is important, is a necessity for rural communities, not a luxury. I am deeply disappointed that the Minister was unable to give a commitment today about when the review will be published. Families all across County Clare and the whole country are being completely failed by this scheme, and big changes must be made. The scheme in its current form is not fit for purpose and needs a severe overhaul. It is completely unacceptable to be waiting more than two years for this report when the issue is so urgent for families.

I will finish on this last point. Clare County Council passed a motion at its September meeting calling for the Minister to use bus drivers over 70 to resolve school transport issues. If drivers over 70 were allowed to be used in Clare, there would never have been a child waiting for a school bus that never showed up this year.

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