David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The republic with which I want to be associated, a republic that cherishes all children equally, has a free education system. An element of this involves ensuring that children can get to school by funding a transport service through progressive taxation. If there is no money, as Senator Jim D'Arcy stated, we must consider raising the necessary amount through increased taxes on those who can afford to pay more. In a republic, one would end the practice of subsidising private education to the tune of ¤30 million per year and use that money to ensure equity and access in the system. Philosophically and politically, we must approach this situation from the point of view of equality. We must recognise it as a children's rights issue and ensure that those rights are vindicated by the State.

Not unlike other Senators, I corresponded with the Minister of State prior to and during the summer, in my case because of a number of issues that arose in Waterford following changes to post-primary school transport. The changes were introduced by the previous Government but one change, the abolition of catchment areas that resulted in a child being required to attend the closest education centre, only came into effect this year, leading to significant confusion. Families were unaware of what was happening. They enrolled their children in schools and applied for transport, yet no one had informed them of the changes. This was a critical fault. Someone dropped the ball. I do not know whether it was Bus Éireann, the Department or someone else. Surely there should have been communication following the making of applications, particularly when people in the Department and Bus Éireann knew that the scheme was going to be changed. It might have solved the problem for some of the families affected.

Many families received letters stating that their children would not be eligible for post-primary school transport. Like many Senators, I was inundated by calls and representations from parents. I downloaded the eligibility criteria from the Department's website. According to that information, the Department will measure the distance from a child's home to the nearest education centre, yet the letters to some families claimed that the measurement was from the nearest post office to the school. That measure was not mentioned anywhere on the website. If it is the case and if there is a rationale, the information should be included in the eligibility criteria to which people have public access on the website.

The Minister of State might correct me if I am wrong, but he stated that only 1% of the students who applied for concessionary transport were denied. The fact remains, some people were denied school transport.

For those people who availed of concessionary transport, there was an obvious difficulty with people using medical cards, for example. Ordinarily, if such people qualified for school transport, it would be free, but they were being asked to pay because they were availing of concessionary transport. Although the Minister of State may be considering changes, if a person has a medical card, he or she should be entitled to free transport whether a place is availed of in the first instance or there is a concessionary transport place.

I accept there are challenges and it is a big logistical project to be delivered by the State. I also accept that in a republic we must ensure that children have access to school transport in a fair system. I agree with previous Senators about the lack of flexibility and discretion in the scheme. In certain circumstances, there are only a few metres in the difference and a child may want to attend the same school as siblings. In my county there is a short distance between Portlaw in County Waterford, the nearest education centre in Carrick on Suir and the centre which most people would have attended in Kilmacthomas. That does not make sense and people should be able to attend school in their own county rather than the neighbouring county. Pupils should be able to attend a school with their siblings and friends and where their parents had attended. A bit of discretion in the scheme would go a long way and solve many of the anomalies which surfaced this year and caused problems for many parents.