Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of the school transport scheme for children with special educational needs. It is a good scheme when it works. However, I know of families who were told on 15 August this year that they were eligible for the school transport scheme, yet five weeks on 12 children with special educational needs in new ASD classes in Dublin 15 do not have school transport.There have been repeated calls to Bus Éireann but people have heard nothing back. These are children coming from Cabra, Navan Road, Finglas and Balbriggan. In some cases, the distance is significant and they already have enough challenges to be dealing with without the uncertainty of having to worry about how they are going to get to school. Thankfully, as of today, Bus Éireann has finally confirmed that those routes have been approved for a four-seater and a seven-seater, which is great, but the school principal now has to start the process of recruiting the escorts, which could take any length of time.

As has been said, the system is very inefficient. It is hard enough for families to access ASD classes without then having to face another hurdle of trying to get access to their entitlement to the school transport scheme. The review is welcome but it cannot come quickly enough. We need to see radical change to ensure we do not have such delays again.