I have spent the past five weeks lobbying the Minister of State John Halligan to get school bus places for constituents in Johnstownbridge, Kilshanroe, Kilmurray, Dunferith, Timahoe and other areas in North West Kildare. It is now the case there are a number of students who cannot get a school bus to Kilcock or Edenderry due to cuts imposed by the Minister’s Department.

My clinics in the area have been full with concerned parents and my offices in Maynooth and Naas have been receiving calls about this matter. Despite the Ministers promises school bus places have been cut back right across the country. In the Dáil the Minister stated that no child would lose their place on school buses pending the outcome of a review in his Department.

The Minister has broken another promise by the failure to set up a cross party committee that would meet at the end of July to try and help resolve outstanding problems with the school transport scheme.

If the Minister had taken necessary action in good time, parents would not have this stress right now. His Departments efforts to save money have now brought unnecessary burden for so many families in Kildare. Clearly this is not good enough. I am calling on the Minister to set up this cross party group immediately to resolve this problem for parent and students