Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was not listed to speak in the debate but as I have raised the topic several times on the Order of Business and the Adjournment, I felt I should contribute. I concur with Senator O'Neill's call for a review of the scheme. Other Senators have argued that there can be no discretion but in the special needs area, we must show a little discretion. The Minister of State would be well aware of cases I brought to him. Department officials must consider special needs children cases, as all children do not fit in the same criteria.

I have mentioned the case of one child on several occasions. That child attends a special school in Dundalk and because the child lives 2.6 km from a pick-up point, the child's mother now has to drive the child. The child wears a back brace, suffers from dreadful epilepsy and has severe problems with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and concentration. The child is almost asleep before getting to school. Nevertheless, nothing has been done about the case and the mother this year has had to drive the child to a pick-up point on the roadside. I may be seeking some discretion but if the child could go normally on a secondary school bus, there would be no problem. As the mother noted, she has a concessionary ticket which is being paid for. She has said she would pay anything for proper transport.

The mother in question is a nurse and the father also works, meaning very often they have no means of arranging for somebody to stand at the side of the road to pick up the child on the way home. I ask that the Minister of State consider this case again. Last week, on the second day at school, the child was brought home and dropped on the side of the road. The bus driver informed the mother that the child could not be taken on the bus any more because there was no insurance cover for the child. The mother rang me in tears on the Wednesday and I contacted the Department straightaway. The child is being picked up for school again but the mother cannot let her colleagues in the health service down when there are cutbacks in the north east. The woman is distracted and upset, and this is unnecessary.

One of the reasons I stood for election in 2011, having never been involved in politics before, is to mention the case of my own son, who required wheelchair transport to go to school in Drumcar in County Louth. This was in the time of the previous Government and our circumstances demonstrated the completely nonsensical way in which people determine school transport. He required wheelchair transport and a bus with a wheelchair space drove past our house every day; however, when we tried to get him a place on it we were told that we could not get one and instead we had to drive him to school, with the Department reimbursing us at a rate of 33 cent per mile. That was the limit.

We had to pay the ¤158 a week to get him to and from school while he was in a wheelchair. It would have cost the Department nothing - not 33 cent a mile - to examine the details, see there was a space on a bus and put the child on it. It is argued that one cannot be concessionary and if the Minister of State makes a concession for one person he will have to make it for everybody. This is not the case with regard to disability. When one has a child with special needs and it takes one half an hour to dress him or her and another ten minutes to walk out and put him or her on a bus, no money would pay for the time in an extra half an hour in the morning. On behalf of the mother of the child with special needs I mentioned, and on behalf of all those with special needs, I appeal to the Minister of State to examine cases individually.