Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I put down this Commencement matter on the school transportation scheme because it is an issue on which I have been very active the last six or eight months. The school transportation scheme is, in many ways, flawed from head to toe. We need a total review of it and on how we are going to deliver school transportation for the children of rural Ireland who avail of the scheme.

Last August there was a change to ensure we could get new bus routes in certain key locations in my part of the world. In my parish, a new 52 seater bus was brought on board to cover those who were left behind. Ballineen and Enniskeane were affected as well.

There are serious issues with the school transportation scheme, and I will list some of them for the Minister of State. The real issue about the school transportation scheme is the nearest school principle. There are issues regarding nearest school principle. If one is going to the nearest school, then one is entitled to get school transportation, but if one is going to the second nearest school, one has to wait and see if one is entitled to it. That does not work in rural Ireland. In Ballineen, the nearest school could be within 300 m, or it could be fourth nearest school, because of the location of places like Ballineen and Enniskeane. That does not work.

There are feeder schools to the secondary schools that do not fall into the category of getting school transportation. How can a feeder school to a secondary school not be eligible for school transportation? People, in particular first-time rounders, who have children in sixth class in primary school do not realise that the date for applying for school transportation is 26 April. Their child is in primary school but they must apply four months before September. People do not realise that is the date, and they are missing it. Not enough work has been done by Bus Éireann to advertise the date.

I refer to the unique situation of a person repeating his or her leaving certificate. He or she must have the foresight to know he or she is going to do a bad leaving certificate and to apply on 26 April. A person could be taking the bus for six years but because he or she did not do a good leaving certificate, he or she has to go through the stress of being taken to school by a parent.

This scheme needs to be reviewed from head to toe. An awful lot of money is being spent on this scheme which is vital scheme for rural Ireland. It is about ensuring people who live in rural Ireland have the opportunity to work and to have their children educated.

I spent six and a half months on the Joint Committee on Climate Action, and one of the issues that came up during debates was that one school bus is the equivalent of two cars regarding carbon output. Rather than parents taking their children to school, a 50 seater bus would reduce the carbon output by something in the region of 96%.

Much needs to be done on this scheme which is broken from head to toe. It has been added onto over the years, and nobody has taken a real look at it. The time for change to the scheme has come. Bus Éireann needs to be more flexible. Something needs to be done to the feeder school issue and clarity is needed regarding the second school principle. Last year we tweaked the second school principle, so people had the opportunity to get school buses. We have no clarity regarding that for this year. Although it has not been announced yet, I assume 29 April, the last Friday in April, will be the cut-off date for the school transportation scheme. That has to be advertised. People, in particular first-time rounders, need to know what happens but I do not think they do.

We need a head to toe review of the scheme. Hundreds of millions of euro are being spent, but for a very small amount of money and with a small number of tweaks, we could provide the school transportation scheme that rural Ireland, but in particular the parents who are doing their utmost to educate their children, deserve.

I know of a mother who drives from Ballineen to Bandon and then goes to work in Macroom. She does that every day because one of her children cannot get on the school bus. The other child is on the school bus. One won the lotto, but the other did not. In a scenario where there are spaces left over, there is a lottery, so one child might get a space while the other might not. It is totally illogical.

If one set out to make a scheme unworkable, this is it. The amount of work required to sort this is going to be immense, but the conversation has to start now. I do not want to be in the situation I was in last August when 118 parents contacted my office about school transportation. These were hardworking decent people who wanted the best for their children but who also wanted to go to work. We solved most of the issues but we did not solve them all. I was really sorry for the ones we did not sort. We need to start this conversation now, because if we do not, 200 parents will contact me next August and that is not fair on them.