Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

Last Saturday, we were at the Holy Family school in Charleville for a fundraiser where up to 100 motorbikes came out. They do so year after year to raise funds for additional resources for the school. There is a shortfall year on year and resources are raised. Money from last year went in for part of a playground for the children in that school. Looking around the country, vintage clubs and different people from various sectors come out to raise funds. We were at the Rathkeale men's shed on Sunday. There is not a weekend when I am not at two or three different events trying to raise funds for special needs schools, and local schools, for services we should be able to provide through the Government, yet these are not being provided.

We have asked the Government to do a couple of simple things from the point of view of bus transport, one of which is to move the age so we can have bus drivers over 70 years of age. Yet, it has not been done. Surely today it should be based on health. You could have a healthy 70-year-old and a 55-year-old who is not healthy. It should surely be based on a medical examination of whether someone is capable of doing a job. Even the Taoiseach has said that eligibility to do a job should be based on health and capability, so why is it taking so long for us to get a response so we can have people brought to schools and different sectors? Time after time, we have to wait for this Department and that Department and we have to look at regulation after regulation, but during Covid we could click our fingers and it was done. We could solve anything during Covid that could never be done, but now we are back into the old ways of doing things and it taking six months, 12 months or two years. We need to move on this.

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