Averil Power (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon. School transport is a vital service to communities, especially in rural areas. There is a need for modernisation and I acknowledge the difficulty in making changes to the service. When the last Government introduced a very positive change some years ago to remove three-for-two seating, it was incredibly difficult to implement and necessitated examining different options to ensure it was done as compassionately as possible, taking account of local needs and preventing, as far as possible, disruption to pupils and families. The Minister of State says the number of families affected by the change in the closed school rule is small. I appreciate the constraints under which he is operating, but I hope he will do his best to apply the change as compassionately as possible and to take into account local needs.

I heard an interview on RTE radio this morning with a person speaking about how the allocation to Bus Éireann under the school transport scheme is used. I understand €180 million in total is spent on the scheme, with €108 million going to contractors and some €70 million to Bus Éireann. This individual claimed that the money allocated to Bus Éireann is not properly accounted for and goes into the general budget. I am not sure whether there is any foundation to this claim, but it might be worthwhile to look into it. I would be surprised if it is true, but perhaps the Minister of State will raise the matter with his officials. In the current environment, we must ensure every euro spent by the State is properly accounted for in order that the public can have confidence in the system. In the midst of such high-profile changes and the difficulties they are causing for some users of the service, the Government must respond to this type of allegation.

I urge the Minister of State to ensure nothing is done to upset provision for children with special needs. It can be difficult, despite all the changes that have been made in recent years, to accommodate students in their nearest school. We must ensure children with special needs are not in any way disadvantaged by the changes being made.