The free school transport introduced by this Government was a wonderful intervention. It has saved many families across Ireland hundreds of euro. However, like with many schemes, there are always consequences. Unfortunately, in west Cork, there are still many students left without bus tickets. These are students who are eligible and may be concessionary and going to their second-closest school.

In most of the cases that I am liaising with the Minister, Deputy Foley on, they are deemed “late applicants”. However, they are not late applicants because they got their applications in on time. They are being told that they did not request a ticket before 29 July. They did not request a ticket because they were not sent a link. Therefore, it is a technical issue that has led to many of these families being discommoded. I ask that the extra funding allocated under budget 2023 is used to rectify the situation for these families.

Rossmore is a cultural hotspot with one of the best amateur drama groups in the country. It won many national titles and they are very creative people.

The lobbying of the Deputy’s good self and others resulted in additional funding in the budget to deal with, particularly, the concessionary students who did not get places. Basically, the idea of the funding is to increase capacity now so we can get everybody covered for this school year. I will talk to the Minister in respect of how this is playing out in west Cork.