Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I knew the Deputy would have to mention the GAA, especially with Galway and Limerick playing at the weekend. I wish everybody involved the best of luck.
We are very committed to the school transport scheme. If the Deputy wants to see our commitment, he should look to our budget. The fact that we have more than doubled the amount spent on school transport between 2018 and now is a sign of real commitment. That said, I know the Deputy is a very practical and common-sense person in how he approaches these issues in looking for solutions, when you are spending such a large amount of money, there is an onus on you to consider whether the system is working well. I could not put my hand on my heart and fail to suggest that there are improvements that could and that need to be made. The Government is fully committed to making those improvements.
Our first job was to try to stabilise the situation, being frank. Some good changes have been made. I thank Minister of State, Deputy Canney, for his work in respect of the issue relating to drivers over 70 years of age. I hope that we can see if this can be expanded further, but it was an ageist provision.
I take the point the Deputy made about the Dáil going into summer recess but obviously he will not be going away nor will we in the sense that we will all be working on these issues in our constituencies and keeping in close contact with them. Let us try to get through this September and then to build on the report that was published in terms of what the school transport needs to look like into the future, and I am happy to continue to work with Deputy on that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-16