Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our distinguished guests in the Gallery, the chairperson of Monaghan County Council, Councillor David Maxwell.He and his family are more than welcome. It is great to see him here and I hope he enjoys his trip.

I raise the issue of school transport, which is one of the key issues in my part of the world, as, in many way, is the lack of changes in the structure itself. There was a Commencement debate earlier on this issue. I listened intently to the debate on the key issues for school transport and how we need to address a major change in that structure. We are seeing an increase in the population going to school and concessionary tickets are fading away and because of that students in my part of the world are not getting buses. That is becoming a huge issue. In my own parish of Minane Bridge, students are not getting buses and these were students who traditionally got the school bus. We need to have a complete review of the structure, how it is set up, and these 314 districts regarding school education itself. For that to change, we need to look at our general approach. We need to put a service in place where the vast majority of students have the opportunity to get a school bus. That is not happening at the moment. The stress that is caused to parents, pupils and the entire community because of that is a huge issue.

The other issue is not knowing whether one will get a place on the bus. I know of people who, in the first week of September, were waiting for the phone call to say their son or daughter was going to be on the bus. In one case, the parents got a phone call to say that their son was being taken off the bus, which was totally unacceptable. I propose we invite the Minister with responsibility for school transport to the Seanad, have at least a two hour debate and thrash out these issues. Unless there is a new policy and budget in place, we will miss an opportunity to ensure young people can go to secondary and primary school on the school bus which is a basic right.