Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)

We all know when our local school term begins. It is not a surprise. It is the most predictable event in our calendar yet despite all this notice, parents across Kilkenny and Carlow are left to face the same entirely preventable crisis in school transport. Year after year, the routes and student numbers remain largely consistent. This is not a complex, unforeseen challenge, but a basic function of the Department, yet the planning failures of the Department consistently become a crisis for parents to solve.

This is causing untold stress for parents. Parents are left scrambling the day before school starts looking for lifts. The lack of buses is making schools less safe, with children jumping out of cars left, right and centre. These schools just do not have the capacity for such traffic every morning. It creates the impression that the Department only begins to think about school transport when the summer holidays begin, which is the very definition of "lastminute.com".

This year was no different. There was chaos in my community because of promises made by the Minister of State's colleagues. Families were given tickets with promises of a seat for every child but the promise proved to be empty. Despite these children having a ticket, there was no bus for them - it was effectively a ghost bus - and then, suddenly, these tickets were revoked. I have to ask the Minister of State directly whether he believes it is acceptable to make such promises to families only for their children to be left with no bus despite having a ticket? Who is accountable for these failures? Was it the Minister of State who sanctioned the issuing of these tickets or was it Bus Éireann? When questioned, Bus Éireann seemed to have completely buried its head in the sand and we got radio silence. When we contact the Minister of State's office, all we get is an automatic reply about how busy he is and he never actually responds. Does the Minister of State think that this total absence of accountability on his watch is acceptable? These families deserve a clear answer. Who is responsible for these tickets and when will we see sufficient school transport for schoolchildren across Kilkenny? I will not let this lie. Like other parents, I want answers. I want to know what irresponsible amadán gave the go-head to issue almost 80 tickets for a 52-seater bus. Come on.

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