Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I concur with Members who asked for the Minister for Education and Science to come to the House. If she does she might also deal with the issue of school transport which has increased fivefold in the past few years yet fewer passengers use the service. It is completely inflexible, and dealing with CIE and the Department is a nightmare for everyone concerned because they will not listen to common sense about altering routes slightly to pick up additional children. We should examine this approach and ask hard questions.

I agree with Senator Ross's comments about An Post. One can contrast it with the postal service in England, which has been turned into a very profitable organisation whose employees recently received large dividends. We can learn lessons from that experience. I am also very concerned about the idea of sub-contracting postal services in rural areas.