Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ahearn will not be here as far as I know. The Minister is welcome to the Chamber. I acknowledge, as I have previously, that this was a cost-of-living measure and the right thing to do. I will read for the Minister an email I received this morning:

I desperately need a ticket please. I find it unacceptable that children in desperate need of a ticket in order to access education are finding it so difficult to get them. Thank you so much for your attention. I look forward to hearing from you. I cannot stress enough how much I need to get my daughter onto a school bus please.

That was from a parent who made a late application, in fairness, because that family bought a house and had only moved to the area. The issue that parent faces is that they can see the bus going from Rosscahill to Oughterard and the bus is three quarters to half-full or half-empty, depending on which way one wants to look at it. The seats are allocated, however. Parents have the tickets and are not using them. That is a frustration for parents. How do we counteract that? I do not know.

I have spoken to inspectors who, in fairness, are doing a tremendous job in trying to placate us with regard to reducing the number of parents and children affected. As I said, however, parents still see a half-full or half-empty bus and they cannot get their child on board. The inspectors have written out to parents without success to ask whether they can surrender and give up any tickets they are not using.

There are a number of solutions. Obviously, the first solution is more buses and more drivers. We know that has been a challenge. It was suggested before that the prohibition on people aged over 70 driving a school bus could be looked at again. is there any update on that? It may be a matter for Bus Éireann. People aged over 70, who are fully fit and able, drive buses to bring the same children to football games or elsewhere but they cannot bring them to school. That is one solution.

There is another solution. From talking to Bus Éireann staff on the ground, they do not know which children are not availing of the seats. They cannot find out because of general data protection regulation, GDPR, and whatever else. Surely, and perhaps this is not for this year but maybe into the future, there might be a possibility that a child could swipe and be registered as he or she enters the bus. After a while, if a child is not using the ticket, we could say, "Sorry Johnny, you are not using this. We will give it to someone who can." It would mean using technology to find out who is actually using a ticket and who has one in his or her back pocket in case it might be needed sometime during the month or whenever. Unfortunately, that is happening, which is a pity because this is a right measure and a right move. It is alleviating hardship for those who have had to pay in the past, but it is causing problems.

We should see what can be done in the short term regarding providing additional routes. One example with which I have been dealing is that of children on the bus from Killane and Rosscahill into Oughterard. There are other cases, however. I cannot understand why there is no bus, for example, to the Educate Together school in Galway from Moycullen, but there are seats on other buses that will get students in proximity to that school. We do not seem to be able to get that sorted. There are issues and ongoing problems here.

I acknowledge the importance of the scheme and why it was brought in. It is saving parents money but it is also causing frustration to those who see empty, half-empty or three quarter-empty buses onto which they cannot get their children.