School Transport
Dail Éireann — 2021-09-23
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Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF), Cork South-Central

I support what Deputies Carthy and Kerrane have said. It is very clear and the inconsistencies in my constituency are very frustrating for people. Most students who travel to school will do so on public transport where if they get a bus, they will travel on 100% capacity. However, for the minority of cases in my constituency and probably for the majority overall, they are on 50% capacity. It is difficult and frustrating to comprehend this and I am glad that this is being reviewed.
I agree with Deputy Carthy that it needs to be done on the basis of expanding capacity rather than on dividing what is there.
In the long run, expanding school transport is a no-brainer in every respect, from an equality, traffic and, crucially, from a climate change point of view. It makes sense in every respect to try to continuously scale up school transport in order that most students are not going to school in a car but are going to school in a bus with their peers. That is what makes sense.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-09-23