Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

We waited a long time for the review. To be clear, it stated that reducing the distance criteria would enable more children to be eligible for transport, increasing uptake and thus facilitating greater access to the labour market for working parents. This is mainly women. There are obvious benefits in terms of the environment, socialisation and meeting our climate action targets. The Government's target is a 30% reduction in private car escort to education journeys by 2030. To meet these targets and deliver on the recommendations, an additional 13,500 children need to be carried on school transport every year. That was supposed to start last year. The Minister of State is not doing this, so he is failing on every measure. Why is that the case? On a related point - and this will be a cause of great frustration and I expect there to be a full scramble again come the middle weeks of August - can this process be commenced earlier next year?

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