Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator Whelan. The Minister mentioned that approximately 95% of all students attend their nearest school, so we are only talking about 5% of students and they will not all be medical card holders. I do not believe it is a major cost and it should be examined. How many children does the Minister think would be affected by these changes and what is the saving for the Department? Perhaps the Minister would consider putting an appeals process in place. It involves 5% of students and all of them will not be entitled to tickets under the medical card condition. It might be possible to look at this and give concessions where a bus is passing somebody's door and it makes sense not to have to transport the child two and a half miles to get the bus to the nearest school.