James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's statement. He understands rural Ireland and the issues I am raising because our constituencies are not that dissimilar. We share a county after all. I welcome the inclusion of Kilcredan in the pilot project by the Department of Education. I would appreciate if the Department would share that information with me so I can bring it back to the parents and the school and if the information was shared with the school. It is an easy issue to solve. There should be a recognition in the mapping the Department does each year with the bus provider - Bus Éireann - and the services it uses that this is a problem area because of what has happened there historically. People in Ladysbridge are very committed to the future of Kilcredan National School and want to see their children go to and support the school because it is the school of their community. I accept that there is a paradox there in terms of the distance. I am a realist. I have often discussed it with other groups across my area and said that we cannot have an à la carte solution to each problem but this one is particularly bad and more than worthy of attention. The principal of the school and his predecessor have been outstanding in terms of raising this matter with me. It puts a lot of pressure on the school board and school management. I can understand why parents are so frustrated. What happened last year and in previous years had a significant impact of people living in those houses. I thank the Minister of State for the information. I would appreciate him bringing my arguments back to the Department. I thank him most sincerely for his visit to Cork East, which was very successful. He was very sincere in his work in that regard.

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