Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Eligible students are being refused seats on school buses in rural areas. This applies particularly to students repeating their leaving certificate who do not know their exam results until after the deadline for the school transport application. I know people who have decided to repeat their leaving certificate, and well done to them, but who cannot get a seat on the bus. I do not know what the school transport system is in North Korea but the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, should consider this because cases are going from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to the Department of Education and Skills and back again. In the meantime young people who are trying to access education in rural areas cannot get the transport they are told they are eligible for. It is not because a bigger bus is not available because it is, but because it is too costly to use for the children who are eligible.

I ask that Deputy Halligan come to the House for another debate on school transport to examine these anomalies which deprive students of transport and access to schools. It not only affects the student but the whole family. In some cases the students' siblings are on the bus but they are not allowed on the bus. Mothers or fathers then have to give up their jobs in order to drive their children to school. This is a very serious issue in rural areas and I would like it to be addressed immediately. I ask that, as a matter of urgency, the Minister of State come in here and answer some of these questions to save parents being sent from Billy to Jack without getting any answers.