Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While it is within the remit of the Minister, I wish to raise school transport. It is a huge scheme every year, with 163,000 children availing of it. Properly functioning school transport is an absolute necessity for access to school, to allow people to go to work and for climate change. August and September are a nightmare every year all over the country. The emails I have received, as all TDs have received, describe the utter nightmare because there are not enough drivers or buses. It just simply cannot go on. At some stage we need to actually take action and pre-empt this happening every year rather than having the pain and distress it causes families and their children.

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