Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are a couple of issues I wish to raise. I concur with the comments of Senator Kyne with regard to school transport. It is all well and fine to allocate the money but we need to see buses on the ground. From talking to people in the industry, that is not going to happen simply. The reality is we still do not have enough drivers. Unless we change the system that is in place at present, which is a Bus Éireann union matter, where no person over 70 years of age can drive a bus, that is not going to happen. We need to look at the situation whereby bus companies that have 53-seater contracts to bring children to school, even though they might have a 59-seater at home, cannot bring the 59-seater, which could bring an extra six students. There are some simple measures that could be put in place that would help alleviate the issue and I would like that to be taken on board.

I welcome the funding that was announced in the budget specifically for sports clubs to take into account the increased costs they will have. It is a very significant amount of money and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, for putting that in place.

We had a meeting this morning of the Joint Committee on Autism where we met with a number of the teachers' unions and Fórsa. We were speaking about the lack of services and school places. Something that came to my mind was the fact that there is no regulatory oversight involved. We need to look at having an ombudsman for health. When someone makes a complaint about services, generally the person who answers that complaint is the person being complaining about. The answer back is that they are doing their best. In any other business or walk of life, if people are not doing their job, there are consequences. The consequences of these people's job not being done and positions not being filled is children not having access to services. That is not acceptable. We need a health ombudsman, independent of the HSE, to get some oversight for us as public representatives and on behalf of the public.