asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of the need to provide school transport for children attending Grangemockler national school, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary; and if he will take urgent steps to provide such transport.
Ceisteann—Questions. Oral Answers. - School Bus Service.
79.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have approved a transport service to Grangemockler school and that Córas Iompair Éireann are being asked to make arrangements accordingly.
I am grateful for the information which the Parliamentary Secretary has conveyed to me. This transport is long overdue and I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary if he could give me some specific indication as to precisely when this long-needed transport service will be put into operation?
In the very near future.
The Parliamentary Secretary ought not to be "smart-alecky" in a matter of this kind. He must know from his brief precisely when this transport is going to be put into operation.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I was asked when the transport service was being put into operation and in my answer I said that Córas Iompair Éireann had been asked by my Department to make these arrangements. I cannot speak for them but I am sure they will do it as soon as it is practicably possible for them to do so.
The Parliamentary Secretary must have made exhaustive inquiries into this matter before he came into this House to reply to me. I feel certain he knows full well when this transport service will be put into operation and that he is deliberately refraining from giving the information in this House.
If the Parliamentary Secretary says that this is all the information he has, then as far as the Chair is concerned, I am sure the Deputy will accept that that is all the information the Parliamentary Secretary has.
I suspect Deputy Treacy knew all about this before the question was put down.
80.
asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of the need to provide school transport for children attending Ballylooby national school, Cahir, County Tipperary; and if he will take urgent steps to provide such transport.
Approval has been given for the establishment of a transport service to Ballylooby national school, and Córas Iompair Éireann have been asked to make the usual necessary arrangements.
81.
asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of the need to provide school transport for children attending Rathkeevan national school, Clonmel, County Tipperary; and if he will take urgent steps to provide such transport.
The question of the feasibility of operating a transport service to Rathkeevan national school is being examined. It is hoped that a decision will be taken shortly.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the school to which I refer is situated on the main Clonmel-Cahir road on which there is a very high incidence of traffic and of accidents, many of them fatal, in recent years and that there is deep anxiety amongst parents there concerning the hazards to which their children are exposed in travelling to and from school? Would the Parliamentary Secretary expedite this matter as being one of great urgency?
Certainly.