We have four remaining Deputies and the time is up. I ask for 30-second questions from each of them.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I raise with the Taoiseach the appalling catastrophe unfolding in Sudan. As the House may know, civil war has raged there for approximately two years, leaving 150,000 dead. Some 2 million refugees have left Sudan already, with millions displaced within the country, and the UN has declared famine in Darfur. It is the only place in the world where the organisation has declared a full-scale famine in quite some time. This is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world currently. It risks becoming a geopolitical crisis by destabilising neighbouring fragile states and may be the cause of the next major wave of migration towards Europe. I have two specific asks of the Taoiseach. I request that he speak about this and use his voice and Ireland’s voice at the United Nations to shine a light on the situation in Sudan and also that he requests it be discussed at the next European Council and that there be specific conclusions relating to Sudan calling for the arms embargo to be extended to all of the country and for aid to be made available to those who need it, and to support the development NGOs on the ground providing aid to those who need it in this really truly terrible, appalling crisis happening before our eyes, which is not getting the attention and notice it deserves.

I raise the issue of school provision in Dublin South-Central. While the small increase in variety with Synge Street becoming a Gaelcholáiste has been welcome, there is still no Gaelcholáiste for Dublin 10 or Dublin 12 and no non-denominational, non-religious school for Dublin 8.

These issues need to be fixed and the Department of Education has quite frankly been opaque and contradictory in its response to this. Something needs to change in the process of planning schools. Dublin South-Central is suffering severely from a lack of options and a lack of places that the Department is not willing to address.

For the third time, I ask the Taoiseach - he gave me a commitment, but I have not heard back from him - about taxi drivers who have reached the ten-year deadline to replace their taxi. It is a very expensive business to replace a taxi. As I pointed out, people who were approaching that deadline during Covid-19 got an extension but only for certain years. Drivers of cars from 2015, 2016 and 2017 do not. As of January, we will have an anomaly. Unless those who lost income - that is the point; they lost income and employment for two years - are treated in the same way as those who did get an extension, we will have an anomaly in January where 2012, 2013 and 2014 cars will still be on the road. They got an extension, but drivers of younger cars from 2015, 2016 and 2017 will be told to get off the road even though they can get an NCT, and the cars are perfectly suitable for the road. The taxi drivers need to know now about their financial situation. Some of them will be out of business if they have to replace their cars because of lost income-----

I thank the Deputy.

-----and credit with the banks and so on. The Minister for Transport is not coming back; he is not being positive. Will the Taoiseach ask him to give the extension to those who lost income and employment during Covid?

I brought the matter of the school bus transport scheme to the Taoiseach pre-recess. He gave an undertaking that the Minister, Deputy Foley, would get in touch and do her best and he would do his best for the people of Wexford. That did not happen. Hundreds of children across the county of Wexford do not have school transport. Their working parents who are contributing hard-earned cash to our tax take have to drive them to school and make provision, which is very difficult in a rural county. No child should be have an imposition placed upon them because their parent is working. Some have had to change their school. Others are left dependent on whether or not they can get a lift home. This is a solvable problem. I appreciate that the Taoiseach cannot just wave a magic wand, but there are issues year on year that need to be dealt with. There is a ban on over-70s driving on a tendered bus route. There is a simple Garda vetting process that takes forever. There is a ban on buses aged over 20 catering for schoolchildren. They are perfectly good buses I might add. All these things can be addressed to solve this problem, but no action appears to be being taken. These people feel very let down.

I thank Deputy Varadkar for raising the very important issue regarding Sudan. He is right. The world is not giving this issue nearly enough attention. I am deeply concerned about the appalling conflict and the humanitarian and protection crisis in Sudan. The impact and scale of the violence on civilians, with more than 12 million people forced from their homes, have been horrific. It is absolutely unconscionable that there is a denial of humanitarian access and that there is a deliberate destruction of food infrastructure. It has pushed more than 25 million people into crisis levels of hunger and has led to famine as well. I absolutely commit to using Ireland's voice to demand a ceasefire, humanitarian access, protection of civilians and accountability for human rights abuses. The Deputy's two proposals that we use our voice in time at the United Nations General Assembly next week and, indeed, that I request that it be discussed at the European Council, with conclusions at the next meeting, are two things I am very happy and eager to do. I thank him for that.

I thank Deputy Costello for highlighting the issue of school provision in his constituency, that is, the lack of a Gaelcholáiste in Dublin 10 and Dublin 12 and the lack of a non-denominational school in Dublin 8. I will certainly raise these matters and the broader issue he raised about education and school planning with the Minister for Education and ask her to revert to him directly.

I owe Deputy Boyd Barrett an apology on this. He raised this issue, and I should have come back to him on it. I have engaged with the Department of Transport, and I will get to the bottom of this and get back to the Deputy. I appreciate that the clock is ticking so I apologise.

Deputy Murphy raised the issue of school transport. I did pass on her comments to the Department of Education and asked that there would be contact with her. I will immediately follow up on that. For the life of me I cannot understand the ban on over-70s driving a school bus. People can drive children to a sports match, but they cannot drive them to the school when aged over 70. I have been asking this question and I have been getting a lot of interesting comments on it, none of which I accept.

I thank the Taoiseach very much. That concludes Questions on Policy or Legislation.