Since the start of the school term, Deputies have been inundated with queries from families whose children do not have access to school transport. The Department is not intervening, Bus Éireann has stood back and parents and children are suffering. Enniskeane national school is the feeder school for the secondary schools in Bandon. Up to 20 children attending these schools from the greater Ballineen area have been refused school transport to Bandon, making it a nightmare situation for their parents who have to work each day. I have made some inquiries and one does not have to be a rocket scientist to solve this problem. I ask the Tánaiste to immediately work with the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy John Halligan, to push through a solution for the families of these children in the Ballineen area.

I have a related question. The programme for Government contains a commitment to examine how best to improve integrated services in the rural bus network for the regions, including school transport. I was very encouraged to hear that an additional €1 million in funding was announced by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, in mid-August in order to address the issues within the school transport system. Although very little detail was released, I was hopeful that the Minister would focus on children who had used school transport on a concessionary basis but who have been left without transport this year. I wrote to the Minister in August to highlight two very problematic school transport issues in my parish in south Kilkenny that require urgent attention. One of the issues concerns a secondary school and affects 13 children, while the other, which relates to a private school, affects 11 children. Unfortunately, the situation remains the same for these young families whose children do not have access to school transport despite indications that a solution would be found. Will the Tánaiste clarify whether the €1 million has been spent and outline the criteria for the allocation of it? Will the he indicate if any of the money is left to cover problems such as those I have mentioned in Carlow and Kilkenny? I have been reliably told that a small amount of money would sort out the concessionary tickets for those children who have been left on the side of the road. I am told that another €1 million would do it.

I, too, ask the Tánaiste to intervene for the people of Ballineen who have been left hanging while waiting for school transport places for their children. What plans are in place to address this debacle? The school transport system is a debacle. Across west Cork, some students got tickets who were not allowed on the bus, some students who should have got tickets did not, and we have many cases of students who qualified for tickets and yet their siblings did not. Some students have places on buses, while their parents are behind those buses driving their siblings to school by car. The situation is ridiculous. Plans must be put in place for next year, but I put it to the Tánaiste that the situation in Ballineen needs to be resolved in the meantime.

The Minister for Education and Skills made some ten exceptions this year on school transport, including one in my constituency for which I lobbied. The problem is, however, that there are other people in my constituency who could not avail of these exceptions. Their applications had failed last year and they did not know they should apply for the exception. I have discussed this matter quite a lot with Deputies Michael Collins, Murphy O'Mahony and Aylward, and it has been raised previously in the Dáil. Other areas have had all sorts of problems with school transport but they did not get exceptions this year. The Government would not have a leg to stand on if this matter were brought to the Ombudsman. The rules were bent for some, correctly, but while the rules were changed and money was allocated for certain students, this was not done for others. Those who failed in their applications last year, including some in my constituency, did not get the opportunity to come back this year because they did not know the rules would be changed this year. The Department is operating on a completely ad hoc basis and the Government would not have a leg to stand on if all the people we represent were to go to the Ombudsman in respect of this matter.

The Tánaiste cannot answer with specifics but perhaps we can find a way of having a further debate on the issue raised by the Deputies.

This issue takes up a huge amount of the Minister's time. I am familiar with the case in west Cork. Senator Lombard and the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, are both working on the same cases probably that the Deputies are working on. Temporary alleviation measures have been put in place to try to deal with specific problems in different parts of the country. Clearly, a more comprehensive response is needed for next year. The Minister and his Department are continuing to try to deal with individual issues and problems in different parts of the country in response to demand. The Deputies will have to put down a question to the Minister for a more comprehensive response.