Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House and being here for the full debate. I acknowledge this. The area the Minister is from is quite similar to mine. Kerry is quite similar to Tipperary in many political and rural ways. This has been by far the biggest issue for the past month or month and a half. For the parents of the 6,000 or 7,000 children throughout the country who have no place on a bus it does not look like the issue will be solved any time soon. This is the most frustrating part. They do not know. They are on WhatsApp groups and they are all speaking about their own stories.

I have heard of very difficult situations that people are in. I know of a teacher in one school whose child goes to another school. That teacher has to give up time at work to bring the child to school. These are families that do not have other problems such as somebody being sick or other challenges. Their children were able to get on a school bus for the past number of years with no problem. They paid for it and there was no problem. Now, because it is free, everyone is going on the bus. These families would happily pay to get their children back on the bus so they could go back to their normal lives when they were working, the bus picked up the children and they knew they would get to school and home safely.

We now have situations whereby a child is on a bus for one journey of the ten journeys of the week so for nine of those journeys there is an empty seat. These buses drive past children who are waiting to go to school. This is what is infuriating. We can speak about how there are now 124,000 children on school buses, which is an increase on the number last year but it was expected. The number of people who applied was unprecedented. This was flagged with us very quickly when the announcement was made. The announcement was made with a very well-intended purpose, which was to reduce costs for people at a time when costs are very high. This is why the back-to-school allowance was increased. These measures were taken to help people.

School transport was very clearly going to be a problem. The parents I speak to in Ballingarry, Drangan, Cloneen and Killenaule are going into their fourth week of waiting for clarity. Can we give them this clarity? The Minister speaks about having conversations with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, on extra funding. Will this extra funding be for this year's students who are waiting to get on a bus? It is infuriating for them. People's lives have been turned upside down by a simple thing that can be solved. They look at buses going past with empty seats but they cannot get their children them. I ask that we give these people the clarity they deserve. The measure was introduced for a well-intended purpose but it has caused unintended consequences for many people who did not expect them. Through no fault of their own they are at their wits' end driving to and from school with their children every day. I ask that we get answers as quickly as possible and get these children on the bus.