Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not now how many phone calls I had with the Minister of State during the summer and in previous years about school transport, particularly in rural areas. To be fair, whether due to his good work or by coincidence, many of the problematic routes I referenced in recent years resolved themselves this year. Pending the implementation of the review commissioned by the then Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, my concern is that I will be revisited by the ghosts of yesteryear next summer. The one time of year that I, as a public representative, dread is coming into the school transport season. I have that fear because we have a geographical enigma on the northside of Cork city. Many rural villages are quite close to the environs of the city but have no history or tradition of attending those schools. They normally attend secondary schools in Carrignavar, Fermoy or Midleton in east Cork. Those are the large towns that have the rural hinterland and attract those students. My concern is that along that geographical enigma, which includes villages such as Whitechurch, Carrignavar, Glenville, Bottlehill and Watergrasshill, people often have no choice but to go to their second, third or fourth closest school. That is primarily because of tradition, history and that rural connection. In that vein, I ask for the review that was conducted to be implemented as quickly as possible. We need a demand-led model as soon as possible. In villages such as Watergrasshill, there might be 50 or 60 students awaiting a school bus seat because those villages are growing quickly. Those students must be prioritised in any system we have because of the numbers involved. That is not to say that we will forget people in rural areas because of course we should not. Where it makes business or commercial sense to operate bus routes, we need to put on additional routes to service the demand.

It would be remiss of me, particularly considering the Minister of State's remit, not to raise the issue of school transport for students with special needs. It is probably the one area that was problematic this summer. I know the Minister of State is working away on the issue and I have talked to his staff. I know the difficulties around drivers, securing routes and so on. The issue is particularly acute in Cork at the moment. Many students who are attending either special schools or ASD classes in mainstream schools are struggling. We need to put impetus behind that now to try to secure taxis and buses for as many of those children as we can.

Every second TD has raised the issue of drivers and extending the age limit for drivers. I taught in a school for 15 years and, thankfully, our caretaker drove the bus to matches, events or things in UCC or wherever else. We always had a driver at hand. That man, when he retired, went over the permitted age to drive a bus. He is now driving part time in his mid-70s. He would not be allowed to drive a Bus Éireann school bus. That needs to be reviewed. We have been talking about the issue in this House for long enough. We have talked about engaging with the RSA. One way or another, the issue needs to be put to bed. If there is some medical reason or another reason people who are elderly cannot drive a bus, I would like to know what it is once and for all. It gets peddled around here every couple of years when we are having these debates.

My final point is probably my most contentious. I do not mean it to be. I mean it in the right way. When the cost of a ticket was initially reduced to €50, it was done during the cost-of-living crisis. I understood why it was done. It was done with helping families who were hard-pressed in mind. The knock-on consequence is that it has created higher demand for seats and we have not been able to meet the demand. In an ideal world, I would love to see free school transport or to see it cost €50. That is fine, once we can accommodate the demand. If we do not have the resources to accommodate all those people, we need to put a value on those tickets. I have anecdotal information about situations where people avail of the ticket because it is so cheap and then do not use it. In some of those cases, people are occupying seats but not using them. That needs to be looked at. There should be a use it or lose it policy and somebody's seat should be forfeited if it is not used within a certain period. I am not trying to take away willy-nilly things that have been given to people. I am on about maximising the capacity we have in the system and using it in the best way. That needs to be looked at, at least in the short term.

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