School transport medical cards
Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor raised confusion for parents with medical cards over school transport payments after the HSE cyberattack. The Taoiseach said he would ask the Minister to engage with the relevant bodies so entitlements would not be curtailed.
First, I welcome Deputy Bacik to the House. I was very privileged to work with her for four years and I wish her well.
I have been contacted by parents with medical cards asking about payment for school transport. Medical cards cannot currently be inputted into the system because of the cyberattack on the HSE. I brought this up last week and I contacted Bus Éireann, which is now saying it is optional. If people can pay, they will be refunded for the first term. If not, they will not have to pay. The confusion is arising because nobody has been written to and people are panicking as to whether, if they cannot afford to pay, their children will be able to get on the bus. I ask the Taoiseach to sort this out urgently with Bus Éireann and the HSE The situation must be sorted for children who need to go on the school bus.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for people. She is always very close to the issues on the ground, to be fair. I will certainly talk to the Minister for Health and ask him to engage with the HSE, Bus Éireann and the Department of Education to make sure this gets sorted. People's entitlements should not in any way be curtailed because of operational difficulties as a result of Covid or whatever. That is the bottom line.