Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

As sure as every summer holiday finishes and as sure as the kids go back to school, there is a school bus crisis. It is incredible that there is a crisis every single year. Every TD in this House has been chasing their tail and chasing around the country to find solutions in individual cases.

Let me outline the issue that really frustrates me. The Government's stated objective is to get people into public transport and it is using a stick to do so. In this regard, there was €4.1 billion charged in fuel taxes last year and €1 billion in carbon tax. It is not that people do not want to use public transport. People are dying to or crying out to use it. Every single parent in the country who lives outside the core of a town wants to get it, but while the Government is using the stick to get them into public transport it is actually denying them the public transport they are crying out for. There is a major contradiction in the Government's plans in relation to this. Right now, pools of families in certain areas all want to get to particular schools. They have the critical mass for buses but the Government is actually refusing them those buses.

This year, for the first time I have seen, we had a case in which the service for children whose parents had the tickets and the right was cancelled a week before school starting. I know of at least ten services in Meath that were cancelled just in the week in advance of school opening. Parents were scrambling around trying to find solutions to get their kids to school, with many parents having to take time off work just to be able to do that, and obviously getting into big difficulties with their employers. Thankfully, a lot of these cases have been solved. I thank the Bus Éireann staff in Meath who have been able to resolve them.

This chaos is not by accident. One of the reasons it is happening is the lack of capacity. One of the reasons we have a lack of capacity is that drivers and mechanics are not being offered the proper pay, terms and conditions necessary to get them into the sector. If you want to employ people, you have to compete in the marketplace for them and ensure you can provide them with the proper pay, terms and conditions.

The second issue in relation to this, which really frustrates me, is that although there are many private bus providers with the capacity, buses and drivers, they cannot get their buses into the system. This is because the tendering by Bus Éireann can often be very difficult. It can often require a scale that makes it difficult for smaller providers to get their buses into the system. Moreover, the fact that we have increased energy costs makes it more difficult for smaller providers to tender. This is because their margins are squeezed by those higher energy costs.

I wanted to talk about common sense on the matter of drivers over 70. I heard the Minister being asked why the rule has not been changed. The Minister said it was not the Department's fault but that of Bus Éireann, and that it is its regulation that requires a ban on over-70s driving school buses. Who is in charge here? The Minister is ultimately responsible. The Minister needs to sit down with Bus Éireann and direct it to change its direction in relation to this.

There is an issue over schools. Many areas have traditional and historic links to particular schools. School choice should be real for families. Right now, we have different ethoses among schools, yet parents are being forced to go in certain directions they do not want to go. Parents from the area of Rathmolyon–Baconstown have a natural relationship with Trim, yet their children are being pushed elsewhere. This is especially the case with children with additional needs. There is a family in Bohermeen with a child with additional needs who is being forced into a school that does not have the necessary support for them. The parents are missing out on the supports that would help that child to get the education they need.

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