Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I know a lot of money and effort goes into it. At the end of the day, it is the inspectors on the ground who have to deal with parents and students who might have a ticket for a bus but there is no bus to bring them. The parents then have to try to get them to school and they have to go to work. In some cases, great work is done to try to rectify the situation under awful pressure at a time of the year when everybody is trying to get back into the school term. While I understand the application process is open, the payment process has to be completed by 7 June, the week after next, and planning goes on, the contracts entered into with bus companies and private operators should be put in place earlier. There should be a heavy penalty if they pop out of it, so to speak, the night before they are supposed to provide a service. Students and parents are left in a vacuum for up to three or four months until it is put together again. I respect all the problems associated with it.

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