Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

A fit-for-purpose school transport service is absolutely essential. The current system operates about 8,200 vehicles on 10,600 routes. This year, it distributed 142,000 tickets and aims to cater for another 100,000 students by 2030. However, there are recurring difficulties with the scheme every year. This year, some parents were told at the last minute that no service was in place even though they had got tickets already. With reference to an example from my own constituency, children with disabilities obviously have a right to education and they face a lot of hurdles in achieving that right - assessment delays, delays in getting a special unit or special school place, and transport difficulties in accessing the school. At the start of this school year, there was no school bus service for students from the Ardfinnan-Newcastle area of south Tipperary travelling to special schools in Cashel. Year after year, Bus Éireann blames the lack of drivers and contractors for these problems. These are problems that should have been anticipated and contingency plans should have been put in place.

One simple thing that would help is the employment of drivers over 70 years of age. This is an issue that many Members have raised, and I have raised and pursued it myself in the past as well. Bus Éireann refuses to employ drivers over 70. These drivers are fully licensed and, provided they are in good health and certified as such, they should be able to drive. The very same drivers can drive to a school, pick up students and take them to a football or soccer match, to swimming lessons or on school outings, yet they cannot actually drive children to school. The policy makes absolutely no sense. Age is no barrier to employment, whether it be a bus driver or a TD. I am 75 years of age. My colleague across on the Government benches, Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher, is two years my senior. I hope nobody would suggest we are not able to do the job.

We have been promised a result out of this for quite some time now and I wonder when we are going to get a decision on it from the Minister of State's Department and Bus Éireann. The sooner the better. Of course, we need a much more ambitious scheme. We need a major expansion of the scheme, which would also give us an opportunity to help meet climate targets and take more motor vehicles off the road. To this end, we need the scheme to be universal. We need to reduce the eligible distances. We need to integrate the scheme with the public transport network. The school transport scheme needs to be free and it needs to be transferred from the Department of education to the Department of Transport. It would also, of course, facilitate the building up of a culture of public transport use by young people with a view to continuing that culture of transport use into adulthood.

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