Results 10,081-10,100 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: Yes. Why did the Department not consider applications received before 29 April first and then fill the remaining seats with applications received after 29 April? That would not have involved changing criteria. It would have been a fair approach.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: No, the eligibility criteria include being eligible and applying on time.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: Eligibility still dictates-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: That is not the case. That has never been the system. The system has always involved application followed by final registration, which has always been on a particular date in July. We also consider eligibility rollovers. It would have involved changing the system. The priority was to ensure families who were eligible for tickets had their fees waived and to provide concessionary tickets...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: The 600 applicants who are eligible will be provided for. I absolutely concede that there are challenges in some pinch areas in the provision of buses and drivers. That is not unique to school transport. We have seen similar staffing challenges in business, hospitality or wherever it happens to be. However, Bus Éireann is working through that and those 600 applicants will be provided...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: I will have to come back to the Deputy with that figure. I am specifically discussing with the Minister the scope to accommodate those who previously held concessionary tickets and to provide for them where there is capacity. That discussion will be ongoing between now and next Tuesday. The issue of the over-70s has been raised consistently here and I hear it. I have to say that it is a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: At this point it is over €300 million. That is an increase of €40 million on last year.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy and want to acknowledge his huge contribution in this Department. On the building unit, we have ongoing engagement between school transport and the building unit. As the Deputy will be aware, it is our absolute priority that we would ensure that children are being facilitated as close as possible to their homes and to the schools that are being attended by their siblings....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. On the specific incidence he raises, I can certainly take a look at it but I cannot give any definitive answer on it. In terms of the broader scope around routes and roads, the criteria are clear about nearest and next nearest, but certainly all of that features very much in and is part of the entire review. I take the point the Deputy is making in terms of back roads...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. He is right with regard to the concessionaries. That is the rub of it. The needs of those who have met the eligibility criteria have been satisfied and they are in receipt of the waiving of fees. There has been a one third increase in concessionaries this year. The Deputy and others can raise individual cases. I am very conscious of the individual circumstances of...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: It is in and around that, yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: Yes, where there is capacity. People have mentioned specific instances. I have met individuals who previously received concessionary tickets and might have done so for a number of years. As they received the tickets each year, they were always mindful that the circumstances could change, for example if a new family moved into the area or a new housing development took place.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: This means it is concessionary. I am mindful of their particular challenge. This is a cost-of-living measure that was introduced. Where there is scope to address their needs in my discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, we will do that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: That figure included special needs. The figures I have given - I mentioned that 124,000 pupils are availing of the service now, compared with 103,000 this time last year - refer to the mainstream. I referred to those figures because there has always been a free transport system for those availing of special education needs transport.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: In terms of capacity, I am mindful that there are challenges in some instances for Bus Éireann in terms of the provision of buses and bus drivers, etc. As I said previously - I know I am repeating myself now - these challenges are not unique to the transport sector. There are issues in hospitality and in businesses across many different levels of society. We are meeting those...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: In the first instance, significant progress has been made in the provision of school places and school transport for children and young people with additional needs. Some 25% of the budget is expended on special education. That is right and proper. We are coming from a base where more and more work is required. I appreciate that and absolutely understand the importance of it....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: It is a guaranteed payment even to the provider. The money will come. I do not know the specifics of the actual cases.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Transport Issues: Engagement with Minister for Education (21 Sep 2022)
Norma Foley: I will take it from there.