Godfrey Timmins
Question:20 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the considerable difficulties being experienced with the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - School Transport Scheme.
Paul Connaughton
Question:28 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the considerable difficulties being experienced with the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Charles Flanagan
Question:39 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the considerable difficulties being experienced with the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Madeleine Taylor-Quinn
Question:40 Mrs. Taylor-Quinn asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the considerable difficulties being experienced with the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Frank Crowley
Question:51 Mr. Crowley asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the considerable difficulties being experienced with the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Frank Crowley
Question:62 Mr. Crowley asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the considerable difficulties being experienced with the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 28, 39, 40, 51 and 62 together.
There has been no change in the criteria governing the school transport scheme and there should, therefore, be no considerable difficulties experienced now as compared with previous years.
The school transport scheme is a complex nationwide operation involving the daily transportation of some 165,000 pupils to and from school. It operates under rules and procedure which are designed to ensure a fair and efficient service to all concerned. Given the demands on the service, it is inevitable that local difficulties will arise from time to time and mechanisms are in place to deal with such situations. My Department have an ongoing involvement in ensuring that all entitlements under the scheme are adequately met.
If the Deputies are aware, as I know they are, of any particular cases where difficulty is being experienced by people in getting their full entitlements under the scheme, I will have them investigated.
Is the Minister aware that low cost schooling could be equated with low cost housing which proved a disastrous experiment a few years ago? Is he further aware that, because of cutbacks in the school transport system, rural school children have the longest working day and working week in the country? Some of them leave home in the dark at 7.30 a.m. and do not get back in large tracts of rural Ireland until 5.30 p.m. when it is again dark. Because the school bus stock, some of which is over 20 years old, is continually breaking down, school children, particularly in the Mayo region, are being left stranded on the side of the road, missing education and having to walk home. Is the Minister aware of this major problem?
There has been no cutback in the specification of school buildings as a result of the changes which have been made. With regard to school transport there has been no major cutback in the level of service provided. The same criteria exist now as over the past 16 years. I can pick up any file over the past 16 years which will show that children left home very early and arrived home late in the evening. We would all like to see a better level of service provided, but it would entail a massive amount of public expenditure which the Fine Gael Party Leader is committed to cutting back, in the same way as the Government are committed. If we wanted to spend money ad nauseam we could pick up children at their doorstep half an hour before school. We have to operate on a very tight budget and we are providing a good service in the light of budgetary constraints. I totally reject that CIE are being negligent in the level of bus service they are providing. If the Deputy has specific instances of buses which are continually breaking down I will be glad to bring the matter to the attention of CIE.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): Will the Minister accept that it is grossly unfair to bus owners who maintain buses in good condition that this year they are actually working at a cheaper rate than last year? If they are maintaining their vehicles in good condition they cannot compete with somebody who operates a bus in poor condition at a cheaper rate.
The technicalities of the operation of the service are a matter for CIE. We have put a lot of pressure on CIE to provide as good, if not a better service for less money. It is the whole thrust of Government policy to get better service for expenditure.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): CIE are getting increased fares for themselves.