Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is customary at this time of the year for those of us in public life who operate constituency offices to be inundated with school transport issues. They normally get resolved in the first couple of weeks of September but this is the first time I have seen a situation where there has not been a resolution in most cases because there is a shortage of drivers. There are routes where there are students who have been given full connected tickets. They are not the discretionary tickets like in the past; they have an entitlement to a ticket. There are cases involving 40 and up to 50 students where no drivers are available for the buses. That is a serious situation.

We have a protest outside today with regard to childcare facilities. These facilities need to be in place to allow parents to go to work. Parents who are unable to go to work because they have to drop off their kids in the morning and pick them up are contacting me every day. Their employers are getting agitated because they are not showing up to work until late and they have to leave early. What are they supposed to do? In some cases, this is reaching an absolute emergency situation.

I would like a debate on this. It is not that there is necessarily a quick-fix solution, but we will have to find some methodology of drafting in some level of support to resolve these issues. There are four or five routes in Clare alone. I can only assume that we are not the only county that is left without drivers to provide services for routes that are identified and fully embracing under the criteria. I appeal for a discussion on this.

There is also the long-term issue of how we will address the shortage of critical skills in the workplace. It is an issue with respect to hauliers and their inability to source drivers. I know efforts have been made. We have it in the national car test, NCT, sector and with garages and mechanics unavailable. There is a wider debate, but there is a critical issue that is reaching emergency status at the moment.