Results 3,881-3,900 of 14,090 for speaker:Marc MacSharry
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: Yes.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: There might be nothing to stop us doing that if we chose to do it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: That leads to the next question. It is something we should look at because if one is dealing with one operator, there is only one set of management and vehicles to deal with and one maintenance and health and safety strategy and so on. It is an alternative to tendering each time and going in to see if Marc MacSharry, the bus operator in Sligo, has everything he needs from a safety and...
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: I was thinking about where we have capacity issues in larger cities. We have a housing crisis. It is replicated in urban centres around the country. Mr. Ó Foghlú will know from parliamentary questions and representations we make to him about the smaller schools that are under pressure, where every year there is a child whose brother has a place on the school bus who cannot get...
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: I appreciate that such an analysis might be multi-departmental involving housing, environment, transport or education, but it might be useful and we could do worse than have a discussion about it to see if a proactive approach could be taken. A number of rural schools throughout the State are under pressure and from a political perspective any councillor, Deputy or Senator would be able to...
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: Is that a "Yes, we will look at that"?
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: If it could because the other side of it relates to my constituency - but it will not be mine the next time - where schools in Bawnboy and Belturbet in Cavan are eing closed and the pupils moved to another school in the larger town of Ballyconnell. I wonder about the wisdom of these policies where on the other side of the policy house we have serious difficulties - and will have into the...
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: What about when there is evidence and someone who drives the distance every day says "Google Maps is wrong" ?
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: What does that mean?
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: Yes, but what if one can drive it and the mileage is less? I have come across instances when Google Maps has not been accurate. In the case of one particular grant scheme for a person - the details of which I will not go into - I toed and froed and was told that "Oh no, Google Maps says it so it is true." God, I would hate us to be using Google as a benchmark.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: In my experience that is not happening. My experience - in writing - is that Google Maps says it and, therefore, it is the position.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: One can go through that but at the other end one is told that Google Maps is correct, but it is not.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: We also have Ordnance Survey Ireland, OSI, and from my first year geography class I know how to take out a piece of thread and measure a distance. I do not need Google Maps. What is OSI doing if we are not using it as our benchmark? God knows one can Google anything and get any answer one wants. I suggest that it is poor practice to depend on Google Maps as the benchmark of the distance...
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: Eircode postcodes too are not accurate. Putting the Eircode into a satnav will not bring a person to the door; it may bring one to the block.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: I might write to the Secretary General on the specific case and see if he could take a look at it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: We should probably stop giving it as an answer in official refusals.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: I will write to the Secretary General about the individual case. Is school transport the only transport in Ireland that does not have a service level agreement?
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: There is now, which is good news.
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: That is progress. Are there any public transport services under the control of any Department other than the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport?
- Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 98: Provision of School Transport (13 Dec 2018)
Marc MacSharry: What about transport to the islands?