Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I raised this issue directly with the Tánaiste last week and, due to the level of calls I have received from parents and guardians across Louth and east Meath, unfortunately I feel the need to speak on it again. Every year, the Government knows how many school buses are needed, how many seats are needed and what routes are required. Every year, we end up having the same discussion, highlighting the children in each of our constituencies, including those with special educational needs, let down by this Government. The Minister for education’s party has been in power since 2011, which is 14 years, but still she has failed to prepare, failed to act and has unfortunately failed to deliver for these children. The Government has to recognise that, when parents and guardians receive the school bus tickets, it lifts a huge weight off their minds. They believe their child’s place is secure on the school bus. The Government must then understand the anger when they receive emails giving very late notice that that place is no longer secure. In most cases, this happens on Friday afternoons with school due start on the Monday. Working parents have told me of the worry they felt when they realised they did not have time to make alternative arrangements for their children to get them to school. Parents of children with autism have told me how they rehearsed and prepared the morning school routine with their children to get them as ready as best they could for new school year, only to have that routine dashed.

We need a complete overhaul of the school transport scheme. Pilot programmes are not enough. The recommendations from the school transport review must be implemented. We need to ensure the service is reliable and robust in order to expand and cater for more and more children over the coming years, as both the Minister of State and the Minister have referenced. We waited three years for the school transport 2030 report to be published. It has been published almost two years now and many of the key recommendations have not been implemented by this Government. It needs to implement the recommendations in the report and let this be the last year the school transport scheme is such a calamity. There should be no more task forces or working groups, but a focus on delivering procurement processes on time and in turn delivering security, reliability and equality for the children who are left behind by this Government.

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