Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. He is genuinely trying to tackle the problem of school transport. There are major problems in that regard. The word "tweaking" was mentioned, but far more needs to be done. I do not lay the blame on the shoulders of the Minister of State because I know exactly what happened. I am one of the probably few people who read the report of the former Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, in 2009 or 2010 on school transport. Reading it and between the lines, it was obvious that an assumption had been made that households had two cars and no longer needed school transport. The approach taken was to consider how the school transport scheme could be worked out of the system and that is what was planned. In the budget for 2011 a cost was introduced to try to charge people out of the system. As the Minister of State knows, the charge is now €100 per pupil in national school and €350 for secondary school pupils. I am not heartened by what the Minister of State said because there are huge problems with his plans. As I mentioned, affordability is a huge problem for households because they have to pay so much money. I have received a text message from Bus Éireann to pay €650 by the end of July or my child will not have a seat on the bus. The fee has to be paid and is being demanded. Many households do not have the money because they are trying to pay all of their other bills.

The nearest school rule is splitting families by forcing pupils to attend different schools. One might question whether siblings attending the same school is a luxury and it is sometimes suggested it is a parent's choice, but to understand rural schools and the subject choices that may be available in one school but not another, one could take the example of a parish called Ballycroy of which the Minister of State has probably never heard. For decades, half of the children of the parish attended schools on Achill, while the other half attended schools in Belmullet. That worked perfectly fine and people had a choice, but they are now being forced to measure from their door to one school or another, never mind that it may not meet the choices, skills and abilities of their child. The rule is splitting families, forcing children into a school that may not be suitable for them and splitting the parish in two.

The increase in the minimum number of pupils, from seven to ten, for a school bus to be provided has caused huge problems in rural areas where there are insufficient pupils. I acknowledge and it is welcome that if a school can show that its numbers will increase in the following year, a certain flexibility will be allowed. School buses come in all shapes and sizes. Why can there not be a school bus that fits the needs of the route of the parish of pupils it needs to pick up? Branding children as being concessionary and eligible passengers and so on is irrelevant. These are children who want to go to school to access education. Surely the size of buses can be adapted to meet the needs of children rather than the other way round.

Concessionary students are in a really vulnerable position. They are forced into a lottery system. They are paying in, as many did last year, and do not know whether they will have a seat on the bus come September. The number of concessionary students has hugely increased since 2011. This must be considered and taken into account, as must the fact that concessionary students are not counted when it comes to a decision on the retention of the school transport route. It does not matter if a school has 20 concessionary students. Although it is not within his remit, the Minister of State knows that the threshold for medical cards is absolutely ridiculous, but to have school transport judged on these ridiculous levels is nonsense. The inflexibility in terms of how the Department has handled the issue is atrocious.

The Minister of State has said no service will be withdrawn, which has been welcomed. However, I note that he said that no service would be withdrawn for eligible pupils, which is not to say no service will not be withdrawn but only those for eligible pupils.

This issue has been considered in terms of reviews and value for money reports. It is not about value for money. What is being done in terms of school transport is not value for money. It is economic and social folly in putting barriers in the way of children going to school and having such inflexibility on routes that cannot be adapted to meet the needs of children. I acknowledge that the budget has been cut, but it is not making real savings when one considers the future impact on rural communities and children in accessing education. I hate to say it, but I believe the Government is hiding behind the legislation. Members are legislators and it is our business to legislate to change the system for these children. That is why we are here. It is not good enough for the Minister of State to say he must work within the parameters of legislation. Legislation can be changed for all types of issues, many of which are not nearly as important as children being able to access education. It would cost a mere €7 million extra to provide every child with a seat on a bus. Today, we have seen Royal Dutch Shell selling its stake in Ireland's natural resources to a Canadian pension fund for €1 billion. For heaven's sake, what are we at? It is to receive €1 billion for that stake, yet the Government cannot find €7 million to provide seats for children on school buses. Forcing parents to reduce their hours because they have to pick up their children and so on does not make economic sense either.

I know that the Minister of State is open to change on these issues and would like him to come back to the House having identified the legislation that needs to be changed and having a plan for how Members can work together to change it in order that every child will have a seat on the bus, regardless of whether they are eligible, concessionary or have any other label that might be put on them.