Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister is aware, the initiative has caused a lot of difficulties and division. The initiative is fantastic but I, like many representatives here and every public representative, have had to deal with families who were in tears when telling me about trying to manage work and leave in time to collect their children because they could no longer rely on buses that they had availed of for years. I must admit that I am pretty taken aback.

The Minister spoke about effectiveness and sustainability. When will we see the school transport report? Will we see it by the end of this year? I ask because we need notice; Bus Éireann and its teams also deserve notice from the Department of Education early enough to allow them to plan ahead.

We have fought for budget and there has been a budget allocation. There are also challenges with capacity and Bus Éireann needs early notice in order that it can manage capacity challenges.

The school transport issues are hugely challenging in rural areas as they do not have public transport and infrastructure. As the Minister will have seen here, Senator Lombard represents west Cork, I represent east Galway and County Roscommon, and Senator Garvey represents County Clare. I refer to all of the Senators who are here to speak about school transport. It is important, as has been noted, that when we consider this model for next year, we ensure it benefits families across Ireland.

In terms of a driving career, we need to incentivise people, particularly those who live in rural areas, be it part-time farmers or party-time carers. What can be done to incentivise those groups who live in rural areas to think about becoming bus drivers? How can we incentivise them to think about having a Class B or Class D licence and a people carrier or minibus, and being able to sign for a PPQ with Bus Éireann? The Department needs to incentivise people and, along with Bus Éireann, roll out an attractive package. We need to ensure that there is better access to capacity and resources. I ask for these things because I never want to hear again the stress and anxiety among people and families which was caused by the mayhem in bus transport provision and providing concessionary tickets. It is more beneficial to have more transport in rural areas, and to have safer pick-up and drop-off zones around schools. I found it very difficult to see the stress, anxiety and mayhem that occurred in the last couple of months.