Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The Senator deserves congratulations on his recent nomination. He will be busy too. He raised the issue of private bus operators. I know that is an important issue in his area. I will try to get the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, to debate the matter.

Senator Browne raised the issue of school transport. The VECs were blamed unfairly, as was Bus Éireann, because policy decisions were a factor in what was happening. We all agree with one seat, one child, but I thought it applied only to secondary schools because primary school children were generally smaller and could squeeze in a bit. The principle of one seat per child is good but there were not enough buses and there was significant controversy as a result. I saw the Senator featured in The Irish Times on the subject. We were all busy during the recess. Let nobody say we were not active.

Senator Bannon wants us to be here more often but he will be busy soon with his own convention.