Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. The last Government initiated these changes to the school transport scheme under the value for money initiative to improve the efficiency of the service. The Government is now implementing the measures it opposed last December. Likewise, it has refused to reverse decisions taken by the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government in respect of a cap on special needs assistants and other issues. I mention this only because the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, stated recently in the Dáil that the Government's opponents, particularly in Fianna Fáil, will say that while they announced the budget, the current Administration is implementing it. The reality, however, is that Fine Gael voted against the 2011 budget. The Taoiseach, as leader of the Opposition, described it as a budget "devised by bean counters to meet the fiscal targets set by outsiders". The Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, said at the time: "There is not a single progressive idea in the budget to support job creation to get our economy growing again." Now, however, the Government is happy to claim ownership of it. Such is the way of politics, but it is important to put it on record.

The value for money review was initiated by the last Government to introduce efficiencies across the public service. In that context, we support the changes proposed thereunder; it would be churlish and hypocritical to change our position, as the Opposition has done. Nevertheless, I wish to raise several points with the Minister. We are all aware, especially those of us who have operated at local authority level, that school transport has been an emotive subject since its inception and through the changes introduced by successive Administrations. There is surely no Member who served in local government who did not, at some time or other, make representations to the Minister responsible for the scheme, most likely on the issue of boundaries. The media has picked up on this with the emotive story of a mother of two in County Kerry who is just outside the boundary. There is certainly a problem in that there has always been a lack of flexibility in the system. Despite the straitened circumstances, will the Minister of State consider introducing some degree of discretion or flexibility in respect of genuine cases of hardship?

The Minister of State indicated that under the uniform application of the distance eligibility criteria, the rule change not only includes those children travelling under the closed school rule but also a number of Traveller pupils in respect of whom exceptional school transport arrangements were in place up to this year. This is an issue I have raised on the Adjournment. What is effectively happening is that the Department of Education and Skills is withdrawing the special exemption that applied to Traveller communities whereby they were not obliged to comply with the distance eligibility rules. That exemption will disappear from September, however, and the onus will be placed on parents living on halting sites to ensure their children can get to school to continue their education. The Department of Education and Skills will save €1.5 million on foot of this measure and for that amount of money, the social consequences of this decision will permeate down to the point where I respectfully submit that some Traveller children will not pursue their education. They will not initiate it because their parents' culture differs from that of the settled community. This is no reflection on them but is a fact of life and is the primary reason that successive Governments have recognised that there should be an exemption in this regard. I plead with the Minister of State to return to the books and to reconsider the sum of €1.5 million. He should try to find it elsewhere from all the savings that will be made from the wonderful initiative by the Minister, Deputy Howlin. Surely the Department of Education and Skills, through saving on paper clips, on tendering and on outsourcing can find €1.5 million from its massive budget to at least ensure that Traveller children can continue their education.