I have heard what the Taoiseach has said on the issue I raise but I am really at my wits' end in trying to get answers from Bus Éireann for parents in Roscommon and Galway regarding school transport. I acknowledge the waiving of fees. It would have been a roaring success had the capacity been put in to make it work. It would have worked very well. I have one case, for example, involving a child whose mother died last year. The mother would usually have done the application and Bus Éireann told the father that, under the circumstances, it would issue a ticket. That ticket has not issued and I cannot even get hold of someone in Bus Éireann to get an update. I ring Athlone and Galway and am given a number for Dublin. When I ring Dublin, nobody can speak to me because of the general data protection regulation. The communication has been really poor. I do not know whether additional resources were put into Bus Éireann before the announcement on waiving school transport fees was made. It has been a real mess. I ask, in regard to additional capacity for school transport and also in respect of communication, particularly with parents, that things be done far better as we move forward.

Thank you, Deputy.

I would appreciate if the Taoiseach would not respond with reference to the figure of 21,000. Contact is the issue.

The Deputy cannot raise this issue and pretend there is no extra 21,000 places, which everybody in the Opposition seems to want to do. I am not saying she is doing that.

I am asking about contact with Bus Éireann. I acknowledged the waiving of fees.

In that specific case, the Deputy acknowledged the person should be getting the ticket.

I cannot speak to anyone in Bus Éireann.

If Bus Éireann said it was going to give the person a ticket, it should give them the ticket. I do not dispute that. It is a matter at a local level in terms of operations. The more fundamental point, to be fair, is that the company needs more buses, and it is securing more places on buses, because of the exponential growth. The easier thing would have been to do nothing and everybody would have gone along normally with the normal places.

Doing it right would have been a better option.

I have acknowledged the waiving of fees.

These are decisions that will be long-lasting and will leave a legacy in terms of how we deal with climate change and getting people out of cars and into buses. The decision was taken to do it and we did it. It has caused challenges; I do not dispute that. We will sort those challenges out in the coming short while.