Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss the important issues of the primary school transport schemes. The removal of school transport because of the changed criteria for qualification will result in considerable disruption to the lives of children and families. These changes to the primary school transport scheme criteria and the introduction of new charges due to be introduced in September constitute another tax on the family. Some people have put it to me that this is another way of taxing rural families, no more and no less. The Government wants families to provide their own transport and cut as many routes as possible for schools. When implemented, these changes will cause problems and place pressure on children, parents, teachers and bus providers. Traffic hazards will also result where services are to be withdrawn. This will cause extra hardship. The extra cars on the roads will give rise to safety issues in and around schools. The changes go against the commitments given more than 30 years ago when primary schools were amalgamated or closed. Negotiations at the time between the various parties and the Department resulted in an agreement that a service would be provided but now the agreement is being broken. The guarantees given then created a sense of trust and commitment but that no longer exists. This will be detrimental unless there is fair and proper adjudication of the system and it will lead to an erosion of rural villages. We foresee families in rural Ireland moving further and further away from the provision of and access to free primary education.

There are already considerable demands on parents as it stands and primary school education is far from free. Grants are being cut for families who are already making large contributions for books and uniforms. These changes make no sense during a recession. Making it difficult for children to attend school is no way to go in this State because education will get us out of this mess.

The issue for many families is not the introduction of fees but the service itself which, if reduced, slashed or withdrawn will have a great impact. Many of the people to whom I have spoken mentioned children who, because of the implementation of the value for money review, will not have transport to school while their brothers or sisters may be eligible.

Under the four-year national recovery plan, some €4.5 million in savings must be secured in 2011 and the figures rises to €17 million by 2014 through a combination of increases in charges and the implementation of measures identified in the value for money review of the school transport scheme. What else are families, pupils and schools to expect down the line? Guidelines were imposed on distances and I understand the current minimum distance one must live from school is 2 km. More important, if there is not a minimum of ten pupils, a bus will not be provided. That means that if there are nine pupils, they will have no way of getting to school, which is unnerving. What will be done about this? The Minister of State and his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, have mentioned previously that Bus Éireann is conducting a study of the on-the-ground impact for individuals, schools and the rural communities it serves. This analysis will be based on the most up-to-date information available on current usage patterns. When will this analysis be completed? When can the House scrutinise it? How will the findings of the analysis feed into the impending crisis in September of children's inability to get a bus to school? If the Minister of State seeks a knowledge economy, he had better ensure that children can access knowledge. They need access to a bus service to get to school.