Right. The deputation wanted to show him the map but he did not want to hear about that. They wanted to tell him of the promise to carry children yet unborn and he denied any pressure from the INTO until the letter from Deputy Malone was read to him so it is quite clear to me that the officials of the Department were quite prepared to cover up information to make a case for themselves. In other words, this is an attempt by the Department to cover up intimidation, the abuse of free transport, undue pressure on parents and, to my mind, the Department stands condemned and in the eyes of the parents and the priests concerned in Crookestown parish and particularly in the eyes of those in the Ballymount catchment area.
One way out, as I see it, is for the Minister to allow a full public inquiry which will help to clear the name of the Minister and his party and his Department and his Parliamentary Secretary. I am confident the priests and the people concerned will welcome this now and I will attend personally, too, and I will prove and stand over anything I have said here and I can assure the Minister I do not intend to shelter under the privilege of the House in anything I said here today.
To prove special facilities have been granted to children to attend Ballyshannon national school I would like to read the two concluding paragraphs of the letter from the Minister's Parliamentary Secretary dated 27th January last.
The position is that (the particular child referred to) resides 3.0 miles from Crookestown NS, the nearest school and 3.7 miles from Ballyshannon NS. She is therefore eligible for free transport to Crookestown NS, to which a transport service operates from a point 0.5 miles from her home.
It would not, normally, be open to the Department to provide transport, whether free or on a fare-paying basis, for her to any other school. I understand however that older children in the King family have had free transport to Ballyshannon NS for some time. As Ballyshannon NS is not the nearest national school the facility was allowed for them contrary to the normal operations of the Free School Transport scheme. The Department has been authorised to continue the facility for them under the terms of an exceptional arrangement which allows children to keep concessions already granted. This exceptional arrangement also allows the younger children of the same family to be accommodated as fare-paying passengers to the same school, even though there is a service to their nearest school. In this way (this girl) may be allowed travel as a fare-paying passenger to Ballyshannon NS, provided that there is room on the bus to accommodate her.
I was glad to get that particular information because I am the person who sought that facility for her. My policy is, if I can get free transport for anyone, I will get it. I will not do anyone a bad turn. I was never the cause yet of taking free transport or fare-paying facilities from any pupil. I am beginning to doubt now whether the Minister's colleagues can say the same and I am confident that the Deputies with whom he was reluctantly forced to coalesce and their lackeys cannot say the same. I will now repeat that a cousin of the present Minister for Education, who lives miles into the Ballymount catchment area, is being carried to Ballyshannon and every local person is convinced that this is political patronage. The Minister informed me yesterday that he was not aware of this and I am quite prepared to believe him, but many others do not, and is it not extraordinary that when the Department decides, as they did in that particular matter, that they can give concessions already granted to Ballyshannon, exceptional concessions, why did they not continue the concessions already granted to Crookestown when there is room on the Crookestown bus? But CIE or the Department will not allow the children to travel on it even though there is room and they are prepared to pay.
Another aspect is that new houses will be built, if the money is available, during the present year in Calverstown. The map shows the particular site is in the Crookestown area and, if this matter is allowed to fester and cause dissension, the Minister will have much more trouble later on. It would appear to me that the present policy is a little bit different from what it was. There was a programme years ago on television, "Have Gun, Will Travel", and the present policy does seem to be "Have Political Influence, Will Travel".
I will come now to a matter nearer home. It concerns Clongorey national school which was amalgamated with Carragh national school some five years ago. I told the people that time, as I was very much involved being the principal teacher of Carragh national school, of the promise that had been made and honoured before and helped, I think the Department will agree, to ensure a very quiet amalgamation because the people did feel that the promises made would be kept, but now we have a situation where people living in new houses in the Barrettstown area, which is traditionally the catchment area of Clongorey national school, are being denied free transport to Carragh national school. I mentioned the case of one particular family before Christmas and, if we are so keen on tradition, tradition favours this particular family on both sides as the father's people all went to Clongorey national school and the mother's people all went to Carragh national school and they are direct descendants of the grand old lady who won the title of "Grandmother of the Year" on the Bunny Carr Show recently and still going strong. Everything is in these people's favour but I can tell you they will all need to be going very strong if the Minister does not soon provide the transport that was promised in their case.
No decision that I have heard of has been taken in this case yet. Certainly none was conveyed to me. They were told they would not get free transport. I wonder why there is such a delay in reaching a decision in this particular case? I am convinced that this is a very corrupt case. It is quite obvious from the examples I have given that what is considered sauce for one group is not sauce for the other. It is an example of dictation to and intimidation of parents and the fact that the Minister was not aware of this, despite many letters from me and despite the presence on the Order Paper of a parliamentary question, convinces me that someone in his Department is taking very serious decisions and not acquainting him of them. The fact that the Minister's own relations are getting priority treatment is surely good enough reason for a departmental inquiry to be held in public in Crookestown. It might help the Minister to clear the air now. To my mind this case, to use a phrase of Deputy Thornley's, stinks and many of those involved might be glad of the chance to salvage their good names. As far as I am concerned, silence on this matter will only be construed as an admission of guilt.
If the parish priest and responsible people in the area were prepared to lose their day and come to Dublin, there must be some merit in the case. They went home disheartened. I would ask the Minister to let the truth be known. If he has nothing to hide he has nothing to fear. If he denies our reasonable request, people in Crookestown and Ballymount and Calverstown and Clongorey will only draw their own conclusions.