Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State and welcome his commitment to engage with me on this issue. It is very important to point out that the reason these students are travelling from Wexford town to New Ross is they could not get access to a secondary school place in their home town of Wexford town. That is an anomaly in the current rules whereby the State has failed to provide them with a secondary school place at their closest secondary school and therefore is denying them a school bus ticket because they are not attending their local secondary school. Had these parents and students to do it again, they would have liked to have taken up a place in Wexford town but they now find themselves in a situation where they are attending New Ross. They are asking that the rules be changed, that flexibility be given and that they be provided with a school bus to accommodate them attending the school they are now attending.