Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

I take the point on starting the process earlier. I always say that from 15 August it becomes school bus ticket time. A large number of tickets are processed every day by the Department and Bus Éireann. A great deal of work is being done on this . A lot of work has been done on the entire school transport system and expanding it. I take the point that a large number of students would love to benefit from it. Our aim is to try to get more students onto the school transport system. We are working within the resources available to us, and we are trying to make sure we are giving the best possible service in terms of the resources that are available. On some routes, there are issues with getting contractors and drivers. I take the point. It is April when people first go on and they then pay by 6 June. It takes a number of weeks for this to be done, but it is something we will look at.

See this speech in context