Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 20 Apr 2023

Vol. 1036 No. 7

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

School Transport

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and compliment the Minister for her work to date in that area - work that, unfortunately, is ongoing and has given us all a great number of headaches over the past six months or so. It involves the school catchment areas around north Kildare; the feeder schools to post-primary schools and the community college in Maynooth from Straffan, Clane and quite a number from Rathcoffey; and a growing population and its needs.

We have tried several remedies and have had numerous discussions so far without a result. It was not due to lack of interest on the Minister's part but we appear to have run into a brick wall every time we approach the school transport section. That section has immediate answers, some of which are totally unrealistic. One child who could not be accommodated on school transport because they were a certain distance from the school was advised to go to the scoil lán Ghaeilge, which would be ridiculous if they were not in a scoil lán Ghaeilge before. That obviously did not arise but the school transport section came up with this issue.

I believe there is a need for a full review of the school transport section in that area with a view to identifying what can be made to work given the exigencies within which the transport system must operate. We recognise that a number of people earlier in the year had a place and then the extra places had to be allocated. In recognition of needs, the Minister kindly extended the service. Unfortunately, people who previously had concessionary passes ended up with no pass while people who previously had no pass ended up with full passage entitlement and free school transport. Without going around the houses several times and talking about it again and again, there should be a specific investigation focused entirely on school transport in north Kildare with its various pressures so we can find out what can be done in the short term so that parents can plan for the future without having the constant worry of how to deal with the situation.

The situation has changed a great deal because of the price of houses, etc. Both parents have to go to work. In the rural areas in question, there is a situation whereby they cannot do so or they cannot do school transport. They certainly cannot do the two. This creates a lot of problems. I ask that the Minister go down the route of having a review.

Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Deputy Thomas Byrne)

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leis an Teachta os rud é gur ardaigh sé an t-ábhar seo sa Teach. Ar dtús ba mhaith liom cur síos a dhéanamh ar an scéim iompar scoile atá againn sa tír seo.

The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 with special educational needs, will be transported to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country on a daily basis, including in Kildare and including from my constituency to Kildare. There are children crossing county boundaries regularly.

There has been an increase of 21% in tickets issued to eligible students and 38% in tickets issued to concessionary tickets in the current school year compared with the previous year. In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for more than 5,000 children who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine. The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9 million. This is a big investment on the part of the State. The school transport scheme is an important service for families and children. Its purpose is to support the transport to and from school of children who reside in places that are remote from their nearest schools.

A review of the school transport scheme commenced in February 2021. The review is being conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness and sustainability, and to ensure that it serves students and their families adequately. Phase 1 of the review examined the impact of eligibility criteria on mainstream pupils who were eligible for transport to their nearest school but attending their next nearest school.

Following consideration of this report, for the 2021-22 school year the provision of temporary alleviation measures was approved for transport for post-primary students who are otherwise eligible for school transport but who were attending their second nearest school and had applied and paid on time. These measures have been continued for the current school year, and will again continue in the 2023-24 school year pending completion of the review.

For the 2023-24 school year, these measures mean that transport will be provided for post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school, who applied for school transport by 28 April and who pay for tickets or enter medical card details by 9 June. Phase 2 of the review has progressed significantly and is being completed in tandem with phase 3, which is well under way. For the 2023-24 school year, it remains that children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post-primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post-primary school having regard to ethos and language. Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time are accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation. In addition, as I mentioned, temporary alleviation measures have been continued for the next school year, pending completion of the review.

Children who are not eligible for school transport but who completed the application process on time are considered for spare seats that may become available after eligible children have been facilitated. Such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.

After the Deputy’s next contribution, I will refer to some of the specifics in Kildare.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am aware of the efforts being made to resolve the difficulties in this situation that effect both constituencies and will continue to so do. Whatever has created the problems, there is a need to restore public confidence in the system, particularly because of the various competing issues that confront parents these days having to go out to work and ensuring that their children are accommodated in terms of transport.

I recall one of the most frustrating discussions I ever had with the school transport section. I am sure the Minister of State has had similar conversations. The staff of the section were always able to explain on paper what it meant, but I have seen situations, as, I am sure, has the Minister of State, where a route as measured by the transport section was not the same as the route taken by the school transport system because of the road conditions. The same route was taken by parents delivering their children to the school involved, using the same road as the transport system and going in the school gate directly behind the relevant bus. To my mind, it is absolutely ridiculous to have a situation like that.

I am asking about the situation in north Kildare generally and particularly around Rathcoffey, Prosperous, Clane, etc., where an extra school bus would make a huge difference. I thought that extra school bus had already been provided. The problem is that if you keep the school buses small enough, there will not be space for everybody. I ask that a special effort be made to increase the capacity of the bus system to accommodate the students and reflect the demand arising from increases in population.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

I will bring those specific issues back to the Department. It has received correspondence in relation to school transport in the north Kildare area from families who have not received tickets for the current school year and who are not eligible for transport under the terms of the school transport scheme. If families have applied to attend their nearest school in regards to ethos and language and have been advised by the school authorities that it is full, the Department will consider if students can be deemed eligible for transport to the next nearest school. In order to establish that the nearest school is full parents must provide: the steps taken to enrol their child in the nearest and next nearest schools; evidence that an application for enrolment was made within the deadline specified by the school; and a letter from the school authorities confirming that the school was full at the time of enrolment.

These families can submit details to the school transport section in the Department at [e-mail]. To date the section says that it has not received the required documentation that I just detailed from any families in the area. In cases where the families are attending their third or fourth nearest school, the above documentation will be required for each school in turn. Families who require information in relation to the schools nearer to them can contact the school transport section. The section has outlined steps that it says have not been done. If they are done, and the section can establish that, then the pupils should be entitled to the school transport under the temporary alleviation scheme pending the outcome of the review. I encourage the Deputy to follow that up-----

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

Will do.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

-----and to come back to us if that does not succeed. The idea is that children who need to get to school and have been refused admission to other schools because of the growing population need transport.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy James O'Connor)

We will move on to the third matter because Deputy Pringle is not present.

Health and Safety

Deputy Pat Buckley

This matter is self-explanatory. It is a sensitive case. It involves about 4,500 families and workers and their safety. It has been reported in the press this week that there was another incident in the Stryker factory in Carrigtwohill. Unfortunately, One gentleman is on life support as we speak.

I am not raising this for kudos or anything of that nature. This matter dates back to 2020, when I received a protected disclosure. It was a very large protected disclosure. I forwarded it to the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, and brought it to the attention of the then Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar. I received a reply in December 2021 to the effect that the HSA had assured the then Tánaiste that all the matters were being dealt with. That was not the case, unfortunately, and whistleblowers kept coming forward. It is ironic that we are talking about protected disclosures when Deputy Mairéad Farrell and I worked on a protected disclosure with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in order to get it over the line.

The HSA has not done its job properly. Health and safety in this area was mentioned as long ago as 19 March 2022 in a motion adopted by Cork City Council. The latter raised the concerns relating to this issue. The matter went to the Labour Court before that in the context of recognition of the union in order that it could deal with issues of health and safety. That was as long ago as 11 October 2019.

There were incidents on 23 May 2019, 25 May 2019, 26 May 2019, 9 July 2019 and 18 July 2019. On 26 August, four people got violently sick in the cleaning rooms. On 3 September 2019 there was another incident. On 2 October 2019 there was another incident. On 2 November 2019 there was another incident. On 10 January 2020 there was another incident. On 17 January 2020 there was another incident. On 6 March 2020 there was another incident.

I commend the whistleblowers for coming forward. This was a major concern for health and safety. I, like every other public representative in this House, am duty-bound when I get those protected disclosures to bring them forward. There was a very unfortunate incident at the start of this week and I am conscious of it. I am by no means anti-jobs or anything, but my heart and stomach sank when I heard of that accident, knowing that all this information was with the HSA and the Department. Obviously, these things were not carried out.

We are dealing here with titanium dust and titanium fires. I went to the county fire service, which does not have the capability to put out these titanium fires. There is a myriad of misinformation. The company rejects everything in the protected disclosures, but the evidence is there in the protected disclosures. I followed it up with the HSA in September 2021, which on behalf of the chief executive confirmed to me that everything was kosher. I returned to him to say I had 60 more complaints. It is not being done. I followed up again with a parliamentary question on 22 February. I did get a response, which stated:

The Health and Safety Authority does not comment on the content or nature of disclosures received and carries out its obligations under the Protected Disclosures Act independently of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

I am calling for a proper, intense, full safety review of the HSA going from 2019 to the present day, because too many people have been affected by this. Jobs are possibly at risk, but there is also a fear that people will lose their lives.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Deputy Neale Richmond)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. I really appreciate Deputy Buckley bringing forward this matter and for the contributions he has made before the House this evening, which are timely, appropriate and stark.

First, my thoughts are with the workers who were seriously injured at the Stryker plant in Cork earlier this week, with their families, with their co-workers and with all those who know them. I can only imagine the shock they are experiencing and they are all in my thoughts and prayers. I wish both workers the very best as they undergo treatment for their injuries. The family of the seriously injured worker has described him as a kind, mild-mannered family man, with a loving wife, a baby, a young child and a stepson who are his world. My thoughts are with him and his whole support system as they navigate this truly awful experience.

Like Deputy Buckley, I share a core value I think everyone in this House should and does share, namely, that everyone deserves to feel safe at work, both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, this was not the case for these two men. I also thank the Deputy for raising the issue, because it is important to make clear how seriously my Department and I take incidents like this and others that have been mentioned.

As the Deputy knows, the HSA has already commenced an investigation on this. I can assure him this investigation will be thorough and the HSA will take whatever action it deems appropriate. Stryker is working with the HSA on this investigation and I want to stress that this close engagement must be maintained throughout the investigation and beyond. It should go without saying that every worker in Ireland is entitled to a safe working environment and, crucially, every employer is legally obliged to provide this environment.

As the Deputy knows, the HSA offers advice, support and guidance to all employers and workers on how to ensure they have a safe place of work. The HSA also has a range of extensive investigative and enforcement actions available to it when dealing with employers on workplace health and safety matters. Companies have a huge role to play here in upholding these rules and regulations. I must stress that the HSA is fully independent in carrying out its statutory functions. When it comes to the specific details of the incident this week in Stryker that the Deputy raised, we must wait for the conclusion of that investigation.

The Deputy makes clear remarks that are separate from the exact title of this Topical Issue, which require a response and analysis from me and my Department officials, on the nature of protected disclosures and the Deputy's call for a full safety audit covering the years 2019 to 2023. I will take that under advice and I give the Deputy the solemn commitment that I will bring that back to the Department and have that reflection. I will do that in the confines and restrictions of legislation governing this and the duty of the HSA to act as an independent statutory body. I take that seriously.

I say to all Deputies, and as Deputy Buckley has indicated, where they have dealings with a whistleblower and are in receipt of a protected disclosure, they should of course bring that forward and we will respond to it appropriately in government. Where we have to work together, we should and we will. That is something I undertake to do on the floor of the House this evening with Deputy Buckley. Hopefully, incidents like those we have seen in Stryker will be very rare going forward and, most importantly, those who are injured and affected recover as best as possible and as quickly as possible.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I thank the Minister of State for his response and his honesty. He is right; we can all work together on this. This is the most important thing about it. I am passionate about workers' rights, health and safety, protected disclosures and what has happened in the last year and a half.

We are all very lucky to be elected here. The Minister of State knows as well as I do that when you get a protected disclosure you are duty-bound to report it. We put faith in those organisations to which they are reported, but the results that came back were not what they should have been. We have to be very conscious of the family in the hospital today and the other injured individual and his family, as well as the 4,500 workers and their families.

It is a major concern that when we try so hard to do the right thing, and I have said it so many times here, that sometimes when you try to help people and tell the truth you get punished for it. Those whistleblowers were brave enough and they have suffered; I tell the Minister of State that straight out. This is what made me really aggrieved. I am still sick to my stomach when I am talking to the Minister of State here. We know accidents happen, but if things had happened a lot sooner, as I listed them out and many of which have been documented in the public domain, in the press and in the media, I should not be here today speaking about this. I would love to work with the Minister of State. I will give him the full protected disclosure again. I will give him everything I have on file if he is willing to look at it because I do think there has been a possible miscarriage of justice here between employees, employers, those who have been affected in the past who have not been dealt with and those who are suffering right now.

Again, my heart goes out to that young family today. However, we should not be discussing this in this Chamber. This is why we have legislation. We are supposed to have regulatory measures in place and I am bewildered that I had to come into this Chamber to raise this as a Topical Issue at such a sensitive time for families. I am also duty-bound as a public representative to do my job, which I will do to the best of my ability, and I will work with the Minister of State on it.

Deputy Neale Richmond

I fully accept the Deputy's bona fides on this. Having been alongside him for seven years in the Oireachtas, I have seen his commitment to workers' rights and to health and safety in the workplace, which has followed from his own long professional experience in this area working across the trades and much else. The assurance I will give the Deputy on the floor of the House is that whatever the HSA needs from the Department in order to allow it to carry out this independent investigation fully and thoroughly will be provided. The Department and this Government will never be lacking in providing the independent agency of the State with those resources to make sure it carries out a full, detailed investigation into this particular incident the Deputy brings our attention to this evening.

I also want to say, crucially, that I will work with the Deputy. There have been number of accusations made there and more details have been provided, and I fully-----

Deputy Pat Buckley

It is all in black and white.

Deputy Neale Richmond

-----respect and appreciate the Deputy's bona fides. I acknowledge how well documented they are. I do not want to pre-judge anything, and nor should I while I am sitting in this chair. However, I will absolutely work with the Deputy on this. Where we need to and can bring it forward, I hope we can do so together collaboratively, because when it comes to an issue as important as workplace safety and at a time of such sensitivity for two families in the constituency of the Deputy and the Acting Chair, it is our responsibility to work closer together than ever before. I look forward to picking this up directly with the Deputy in due course. I sincerely thank the Deputy again for bringing this before the House.

Road Projects

Deputy Martin Browne

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter, although I had thought the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, might do so. This issue has been raised repeatedly by me and other Tipperary Deputies. It relates to the Tipperary town bypass, which was first promised 40 years ago. Anybody who knows the town can see how it is absolutely choked up with heavy traffic. All the Governments of the past 40 years have promised the bypass for Tipperary town, and Independent Deputies go into the town every now and again and make claims and so on. Any Member of this House who has any responsibility for the area of transport or any regard for the plight of Tipperary town or any rural town will tell you the towns are overwhelmed by traffic, and they will be aware of Tipperary's desperate need to move this project forward. We were being told that from Limerick to Waterford, it is all being done and last year, there was a bit of a clawback on the Cahir-to-Waterford section. Public representatives in all these counties - Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny - are in favour of the N24 going ahead but the Minister did a U-turn on it and the plans were suspended.

We are asking for the same thing to happen here. Tipperary County Council looked for €3.25 million to advance the bypass project and was told this week that all it will get is €1 million. This is a matter of heartbreak for people in Tipperary town. They have been on the streets previously, and anyone who knows the town will know they are going to go back onto the streets because this is another kick in the teeth. After all the promises they have been made through the years and when they thought they were getting somewhere this time around, they are now getting only one third of the funding that Tipperary County Council looked for. As I said, the fact the council was looking for €3.25 million and was told it would get only €1 million has infuriated everybody on the council I have spoken to before or since because it means the progress of the section of the road from Cahir to Limerick Junction will not go ahead for years and will fall behind the section from Cahir to Waterford. Tipperary County Council responded to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, after the initial request asking it to review and revise upwards the funding, and it has now written to the Ministers for Transport and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to request that the money it initially sought be made available. The shortfall in funding here, while significant in stand-alone terms, is far higher than the funding shortfall experienced by Kilkenny County Council, which requested €2.6 million and was allocated €2 million in the 2023 grant. Why is one section of the road being fully funded while another is being given only one third of the funding?

We know there are delays all the time and the Minister of State will probably tell us road works throughout the country are looking for funding, which we appreciate, but promises have been made to Tipperary town for 40 years and it has been left behind the whole time. I am aware the Minister of State is not the decision-maker here but he has been chosen to represent the Minister, so I will ask him the following question. What is the reasoning behind the decision? We want a clear commitment that the funding sought will be made available and we want the Minister to meet the political representatives in whose communities this project is vital. My purpose in raising this matter is to move it forward such that the Minister will meet us, give us reasons for the delay and progress the project.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

As the Deputy noted, the Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in respect of the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII, under the Roads Acts and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII in conjunction with the local authorities. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.

The N24 Cahir-to-Limerick Junction scheme is included in the national development plan. TII is working to progress this scheme through planning, design and construction. The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national road projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility throughout the country, as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. Given the greater portion of this funding will become available in the second half of the decade, there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects this year. However, many national road projects in the NDP will continue to be progressed in 2023, including the N24 project.

A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an Exchequer allocation of about €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing national roads over the ten-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade. Approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds has been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2023. These allocations were announced on 16 February 2023.

Having regard to the funding constraint I outlined, it was not possible to provide an allocation to all new national roads projects in the NDP for 2023. However, the majority of projects have been allocated funding, including the N24 Cahir-to-Limerick Junction scheme, which has been allocated €1 million. As with all national roads projects in the NDP, the delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for 2024 and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to TII.

Deputy Martin Browne

I appreciate that not every project can get funding, but we are talking about small money to progress this project. The people of Tipperary and its surrounds have been struggling for too long. As I said, there have been 40 years of successive governments telling them they will get a bypass. This is all for the sake of an additional €2.25 million, a pittance in the current climate. As a public representative, I cannot allow this to continue. Every time I go into Tipperary town, I am faced with it. Likewise, Deputy Cahill will know about the issue, as will Fianna Fáil councillors in the town. For 40 years, the people of Tipperary town have been strung along and told time and again that they will get the bypass. The longer it is delayed and the longer they do not get the money to progress the national roads project, the worse it will be. Given the kind of money we are talking about, surely to God in this day and age progress can be matched between the Cahir-to-Limerick Junction project and that from Cahir to Waterford. Why is there a need for some of the project to be cut but another part of it not to be?

As I said, all the counties - Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny - are behind getting this done. I have travelled through a lot of this country but I cannot think of a town that is as choked up with heavy traffic as Tipperary town. Anybody who has done any travelling and gone through Tipperary town will know how things are there. We are talking about national roads over another ten-year period but this cannot be allowed to continue. I may be cynical, but every time progress seems about to be made on Tipperary town, something happens in this House, such as a vote, and various political groups get funding for their areas and something else in County Tipperary gets cut. I have a question. When a deal was being done recently with the Regional Group to get a vote to pass in the House, was that part of the reason funding for the project in Tipperary is being cut and spent somewhere else? Perhaps I am cynical, but there are a lot of cynical people out there after 40 years of looking at this project being pushed back. A lot of people who were told about it 40 years ago are not around any more. Let us get it moving. As I said, it is small money.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

I am absolutely certain no deal that was done resulted in a loss for Tipperary town. In fairness to the Regional Group at the time, it came up with solutions that married with solutions that Government backbenchers were putting forward as well in respect of housing, rather than just giving out and objecting all the time.

Deputy Martin Browne

There was no one objecting. We have been looking for this for 40 years.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

All of the good solutions on housing that the Deputy mentioned there were all voted against by the Opposition. I refer to the measures that we are now trying to get in place, such as the tenant in situ scheme.

Deputy Martin Browne

We are talking about the N24, not the tenant in situ scheme.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy James O'Connor)

Allow the Minister of State to continue without interruption.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

In line with the NDP and Government policy, the Minister has allocated national roads funding for 2023 in a manner which seeks to achieve the following key outcomes - the protection and renewal of the existing national road network; progressing major projects in or near construction; progressing major projects which are pre-construction but well advanced in the development pipeline; and prioritising any remaining funds for major projects which are to provide local bypasses and compact growth in Ireland's towns and villages.

As I said in my previous statement, the majority of projects in the NDP have been allocated funding, including the N24 - Cahir to Limerick Junction. The delivery of this will be kept under review and it is in the NDP.