This is Groundhog Day in terms of school transport. It is the same as last year. The only thing that has changed in the school transport system is the families affected. We are still inundated with emails from frustrated parents from Rathdrum to Kilmuckridge. Children who have always qualified have suddenly been refused tickets. Others received tickets but no service is available. In other cases, one sibling got a ticket while another sibling attending the same school did not, so the parent drives behind the bus. We submitted 12 names during the year for Castletown National School and 21 for a service from Camolin to the Gorey Educate Together school. Families are still waiting for certainty. Children in Coláiste Bhríde, Carnew, who had always received transport were told no service was available, but when we contacted the provider, it said that a service was available. The waiting time to hear back from Bus Éireann is unacceptable. When will the Government introduce the policy recommendations on eligibility and distance that were outlined previously?

First of all, the school transport scheme is a very extensive scheme. About 180,000 students are now carried on the school bus transport system. Costs have been increasing on a yearly basis, as has investment in the programme. There are limits to what we can do. We cannot do everything in one year. However, we continue to work on it.

The Minister of State with responsibility for special education and school transport, Michael Moynihan, has been engaged on this for the last year and a half. We are making improvements to it and the changes to the eligibility criteria will be implemented on a phased basis. The numbers have increased. There are pilot projects. About 11 were approved for the 2025-26 year where the distance criterion was reduced to 2 km for primary and post-primary schools. The need for a pupil to be attending the nearest school has been removed, as the Deputy will be aware, in those 11 pilots, so we will see how they work out.