Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

Fáiltím roimh an Aire Stáit. I will continue on from what other Senators have said. During the summer, we all got phone calls about the lack of school transport. One girl I want to mention who lives in Sligo has been taking the school bus every day since she started in junior infants. This August, her school bus application was refused because of the lack of available places. She is in her final year of secondary school and has significant health challenges. She has a form of a disability which means she is unable to walk any significant distance. As there is no Local Link or Bus Éireann route servicing her home, she has to remain in school until her parents or friends are able to collect her. This is a time when she is just about gaining confidence in herself. She should be gaining more independence but she is stuck back in school. She is again dependent on her parents, whom she was just about gaining independence from. She was offered a taxi service, and I know Senator Tully brought this up as well. It is great that she was offered that service, but it defeats the whole purpose of her wanting independence. It is a waste of money in this case as she did not particularly want it; she wanted to be on the school bus with her friends. The school bus is a lot more than just a service to get on and off while going to school. It is much more than that for many children, particularly in rural Ireland, where they might spend 45 minutes or an hour on the bus. It is where their friendships are formed and there is a lot more to it than that.

As Senator Harmon said, the Labour Party is looking for a complete overhaul of the system and an integrated approach rather than just relying on a school bus from Bus Éireann. We need to look at the Local Link services. As Senator Tully stated, there are buses that sit there during the day while we are crying out, especially in my area,, for additional Local Link services. I know the other rural Senators here understand that. We know those services are successful. They really work. If they are integrated under the Department of Transport, we will see older people mixing with younger people on buses at a time when people are feeling isolated and there is a lot of loneliness experienced among many members in our society, particularly in rural Ireland. This could be a way to totally alleviate this.

We would love to have the whole idea of a radius completely gone. Why have this radius? Whether or not a school is the nearest one, there should be a bus place available for every child who needs it, regardless of whether they live 4 km or 4.5 km from the school. It causes so much upset when people are maybe a fraction of a kilometre outside the approved space. Is there a way to have a complete rethink of this in order that students would be able to get a school bus regardless of the distance from their particular school?

We need joined-up thinking around the Local Link and Bus Éireann routes. One of the biggest requests in my constituency is for an increase in Local Link services. We know how successful they are. Having all the services incorporated under one body could be a way to alleviate the issue.