The Taoiseach may be aware that in many counties, predominantly rural ones, school transport remains a very vexed issue. There are particular issues with trying to secure concessionary bus passes with children. There are numerous families - I am dealing with over a dozen of them - whose children are eligible for transport but cannot get on the school bus. In many instances, this is because the parents were late in getting their payment in before the 4 August deadline. I know of some parents who were aware of the deadline but simply did not have the money in the week in question as they were buying school books, uniforms and the rest of it. There are also issues with many bus drivers who are concerned we have not been moving quickly enough to the new regime. They are fearful about the arrangements that are in place.

What new regime is the Deputy referring to?

I am referring to the reduced capacity on school buses of 50%, or perhaps even lower. These private operators are driving full school buses. The most important issue is getting children to school. I accept that and I also accept that we need to be flexible in that regard. Will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education and Skills ensure every child who is eligible for school transport gets a seat on a school bus?

I thank and compliment the people who, for generations, have carried children safely to school, in particular private contractors and others who have travelled safely with children to school. It is very important to acknowledge their great work. Considerable distress has been caused by the 50% reduction in capacity, the lack of clarity from the Department of Education and Skills and the confusion. Our local office in Tralee is doing excellent work. Our local people in Bus Éireann and the staff who work there do excellent work. However, parents have been left in a situation where students who should have access to a bus to travel to school do not have it. There is uncertainty and worry and that should not be the case at a time when families have enough to contend with.

The Minister is doing everything possible to deal with the concessionary ticket situation and also late payments by those eligible for school transport. The overriding consideration has been the implementation of the NPHET recommendation to reduce numbers by 50%. That was given some time ago but it has involved additional expenditure of between €100 million and €120 million. The transport operators, CIÉ and the Department are saying this had to be resolved first by creating the additional capacity required in advance of trying to deal with the concessionary issues in some cases and the eligibility question. It has been an enormous logistical exercise. When the recommendation to reduce numbers was made, we said we were not in a position to implement it immediately because it came a week before schools opened. The Department has been working flat out with the operators to increase capacity and Cabinet has approved the resources to achieve the 50% figure. However, that has slowed down and inhibited the capacity to deal with the other issues we would like to deal with. Believe me, every Deputy in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party and other parties involved in this is putting pressure on in relation to school transport. We are doing far more this year than we did last year, by the way, but I take on board what the Deputies are saying and will continue to work on it.

The Taoiseach promised the buses would continue as they were until we had the capability of operating at 50%. He did not fulfil that promise.