Mattie McGrath warns on school transport, special needs, class sizes
Mattie McGrath raised concerns about school transport, special needs provision, class sizes and student representation during the parliamentary sitting on 24 Jun 2020. He criticised the treatment of non-contracted school bus operators, called for flexibility on the 45 kilometres guideline and sought clarity on July provision for pupils.
Main issues raised
McGrath said special needs children, including those with Down syndrome, had been left out and that there was uncertainty around the July provision. He cited class size figures and gave a personal example of a granddaughter in a classroom of 34 pupils to underline pressures in schools.
School transport and private operators
He warned that a cohort of private school bus operators who are not contracted to "bus airing" are "out there penniless," having to maintain buses and hold insurance and certifications without payments. McGrath said contracted operators are receiving 50% of payments while non-contracted operators have been disadvantaged, and he warned this could disrupt transport when schools reopen in September.
Guideline flexibility and distances
McGrath criticised the 45 kilometres guideline, saying straight-line distances ignore real road networks and travel routes outside urban areas. He urged a degree of flexibility in applying distance rules to reflect rural roads and different local networks.
Students, stakeholder engagement and community halls
He praised the student representative bodies and highlighted the work of Keira Fanning from his county. McGrath said stakeholders sometimes find meetings tokenistic when announcements are made before meetings conclude. He also proposed incentives or programmes to use community halls and local centres for examinations and school activity when feasible.
Department response noted
The minister responded by defending departmental staff and resilience, confirming there is a departmental contract with "bus airing" for contracted services and noting that a review of the school transport sector has been established with terms of reference. The minister acknowledged the role of student representatives during the Leaving Cert debate and praised their input.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Good morning, good chairman. Minister, look, you've answered some of the questions that I had. I want to ask you, Minister, especially about the special needs children and the Down syndrome. They've been left out. Also the July provision, there's uncertainty and people don't know. I could mention class sizes, Minister, because there are figures you quote. I have a granddaughter in a classroom, for example, and there's 34 students, two ones. I mean, there's the real figures what are behind what's going on. Border management principles are under enormous pressure. Minister, there's another cohort that I worry about, hugely worry about, is the back is the education, the school bus tickets. We've bid them every year. Minister Hadigan was dealing with last year. Absolute bid them. This year, Minister, a strong cohort of the bus operators, or private operators, who are not contracted to in-road in, and now they are out there penniless, because they have to maintain their buses. They have to have DOE, the insurance, and all the different certifications, and are willing to do that, but they haven't got it since. Thankfully, the operators with bus in are getting 50% of payments, but these people have been discriminated against it's deplorable what's going on, and nobody's taking any interest, either Minister Ross or yourself. Someone needs to grasp it, because if they don't have those buses in September to bring the children back to school, there'll be a further problem. Minister, I want to salute the people in Siouxsie, the staff there, because I know Jeremy, my office, they've been working very hard. We had huge issues with it when it came out first a number of years ago, but it has been streamlined, but Deputy O'Donagh is right. These guidelines on the distances, the 45 kilometres, I mean, by the air, you think they're flying to school. They have to go around roads, and they have to divide traffic, and whatever, and sure, there must be flexibility, and not huge flexibility, but a little flexibility that they divide different roads, because we don't have the roads that Emma Ryan has around Dublin, and the network, and the buses, and the DAS, and everything else, and if he has his way, we won't have them either, and if you have your way with him, we won't have them either. So, Minister, those issues are very concerning, as I said, the special needs, and also we need clarity, and the Students' Union, Minister, and indeed the Secondary School, and I would praise Keira Fanning, who's a girl from my own county, doing great work, but you mentioned that meeting of the stakeholders tomorrow. They're finding that they're in meetings with you, and announcements are made before the meetings are over, so there's only tokenism being shown to them, and that's not fair, because everybody needs to be supported in this, everybody's doing their best, so, Minister, the other issue is, many communities have excellent community centres now. Some schools have gone ahead and organised these themselves, but there should be some programme, put out by you, or some incentive, for the finest of community centres that are out, there, put there by the people, the enablers, I call them, of the communities, but many of them have got grants from the state, and they upkeep them themselves, so, they need to be used, those fabulous community halls, and they could have been used for the exams too, for a bit of, a bit of, a bit of, a bit of intrigue in department, and a bit of intuition, and a bit of planning. Yes, the apartments are stale, and they're just stuck in pigeonholes, and they can't think outside the box, and that was what's wrong, and then the department managers will love this new government now, because you'll have, you'll have minister, changing every every every couple of months so and they love this well one thing I can assure the deputy the department's not stale there's there's 1300 people working and I must say over the last three months been faced with unprecedented challenges they showed amazing resilience and also had the ability to be creative as well and your issue you raise about the operators outside the bus airing contract you're correct it's supposed there in contract contracted private operators that that get the 50% and obviously there there was an issue and I know it was an issue is raised in my own county but we have a contract as a department with bus airing and that's specifically specifically with bus airing deputy and in relation to school bus tickets you're right every year every summer we're faced with this conundrum and pressure and unnecessary pressure for parents at times because it's a difficult one to get right and I think the new guidelines that were introduced in 2011 2012 the nearest school I managed to change it for post-primary where your second closest school could be included we still have issues for primary so that's why I've set up a review for the school transport sector and it's really really important that that review is not just a review you know going through the motions it's a review I have a terms of reference with a group set up and turning the department and will no doubt the house will be kept up to date on it and just lastly in relation to the student representative body of the secondary school students they played a phenomenal role during the debate on the leaving cert their voice was critical it was crucial and the feedback from the other partners and you mentioned Ciara Fanning from your own county she was so articulate and so on the on the ball in terms of representing the press the pressure and the stress that were on students at that given time so I want to acknowledge that
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
