Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I commend the Minister of State on the amount of work he carried out over the summer, particularly in relation to school transport and special education. There was a marked improvement this year in comparison to previous years. It is important to acknowledge that. However, there continue to be serious issues with school transport. The programme for Government commits to ensuring better management of the application system and timely communication to parents and families. While that has been the case for the majority - we have to be honest about this - it has not been so for a lot of families. It is important we recognise that.

Some key issues have been identified by my office over the past month and a half. One is the refusal or withdrawal of bus places. Previously eligible students are being denied transport without a clear reason. One example concerns a family with a student with ASD in Maynooth Community College who, despite having additional needs, was refused a ticket after years of receiving one and with another child in primary school with ASD. The family cannot afford private transport.

A second issue is last-minute notification and payment issues. Families were notified days before term started in some cases that there were no seats available despite timely application and the fact they had paid early in July. One example of this concerns the Kilcock to Maynooth route where a student who used the service last year and paid in April was told in late August there was no seat. There is no viable public transport alternative for this particular student. Another example is Enfield to Maynooth. A student's confirmed ticket was cancelled the next day after being approved, leaving the family stranded, having cancelled private transport they had arranged previously.

A third issue is disruption and uncertainty on rural routes. Services are disrupted or cancelled with little notice. In regard to the Tirmoghan-Hortland-Knockanally route to Scoil Dara in Kilcock, for example, one parent was left without a service despite reassurances from Bus Éireann. A local driver with a bus offered to help but has been ignored by Bus Éireann.

Fourth, it has been encapsulated by many people that there is poor communication and lack of transparency from Bus Éireann. Families report repeated unanswered calls and emails, unclear timelines and no guidance on alternative arrangements or grants. One student in Scoil Uí Riada in Kilcock was unable to get replacement tickets despite multiple requests and follow-ups.

Fifth, there is inappropriate allocation and route management. Concession tickets are being issued on routes where school finishing times differ significantly, leaving children waiting in unsafe conditions. That could be a child in senior infants and a child in sixth class, for example, and the collection times do not match up. In Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh Nuad, for example, students were left waiting for 40 minutes after school due to sharing a bus with other schools, namely, Maynooth post-primary and Maynooth Community College. These students are left waiting around.

The impact on families and on students is severe, particularly on children with additional needs. The Minister of State has a particular focus on children with additional and special educational needs. These are the students who need particular focus. Also, it is discriminatory against rural families with a lack of alternatives.

I would like to bring some recommendations to the table. One is to review Bus Éireann allocations to prioritise continuity for returning students. It should not be the case that a person gets a school ticket one year but not the following year, especially those with additional needs. Second, improve communication. We have heard repeatedly how difficult communication is with Bus Éireann, not just for ourselves as Members of the Oireachtas, but particularly for members of the public. If there are queries or issues, communication needs to be set up in a way that is easily accessible for families. The third recommendation is to utilise available local resources and engage local drivers and buses willing to provide a service, particularly on disrupted routes. We have heard from Members about the over-70s. I recommend that there be an annual doctor’s certificate or type of medical assessment that would allow drivers aged over 70 years to help with those demands. We also need to expand the capacity on oversubscribed routes, especially to the large secondary schools where we have repeatedly seen students being denied tickets. We also need to streamline the grant process, clarify the eligibility criteria, ensure timely payments, review route allocations, ensure concession tickets are fairly issued and route timings match school schedules. The difficulty with schedules is trying to cater for children with different finishing times in the one family.

I implore the Minister of State to put as much pressure on Bus Éireann as possible. Communication is the key element to ensure families and, in particular, students are looked after properly.

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