Joe Neville
Kildare North · Fine Gael · Ireland
“With the pyrite mediation scheme closing in just four months' time, on 30 November, some people in my constituency have real concerns. Yesterday, I met two constituents who highlighted the fact that their neighbours had been impacted by pyrite in the past and they are concerned about how it might impact them in future.”
“One of the largest semiconductor plants world-wide is only a few hundred metres from my house. It is a large employer where a multitude of my friends, neighbours and even family, at times, have been employed. Intel has been hugely important in north Kildare and, indeed, internationally.”
“We are ahead of the curve from a European point of view in north Kildare in that we have Intel, which many other countries in Europe do not have. We have a knowledge base and a history. Intel has been there since I was a child. With that local knowledge and capability, we want to ensure Ireland stays a step ahead.”
“The issue I want to raise today is the national semiconductor plan. A lot of people wonder what exactly semiconductors are and what exactly that means because it can be a catch-all name in itself. Realistically, they are the chips that power modern electronics and modern computing.”
“Whatever element it is, its support to the State is enormous and that is something of which I think we are all very conscious. Once again, with its importance and the key impacts of the national semiconductor plan in mind, what I am specifically asking about today is the progress and plans we have regarding the clusters, growth and employ…”
“I welcome the response, as well as the many announcements that have come in and the efforts that have been made. Even going back to last year's budget, one thing I highlighted beforehand and discussed was the importance of the R and D tax credit.”
The complete record
Every one of 408 lines we hold for Joe Neville, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 9.
“Some might say that is only a small thing, but it incentivises young Irish people to set up their own businesses. I have been involved in the entrepreneurial space and have seen people do well but, more important, they have created jobs. I was involved with a company that went from having three or four employees five or six years ago to having more than 60. They are the sort of people we need to encourage to get into business. I also wanted to reference the specific items Deputy Cleere alluded to in his own way about villages and towns in Kilkenny. I also look at the likes of the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, which has an extra €300 million allocated to it.”
“We must ensure that we can invest in jobs and ensure we have the jobs that can lead us to having positive budgets in the future. With that in mind, the 9% VAT rate was introduced for small business owners. That was important for small employers. There were also changes to the research and development, R and D, tax credit. Some people around the country, and indeed some people in the House, might ask what difference the R and D tax credit makes. It provides the opportunity for foreign direct investment and Irish companies to continue to invest, continues to make Ireland a good place to do business and ensures we keep those high-quality jobs. The Government should be commended on being far-sighted in that regard. The entrepreneur relief was increased from €1 million to €1.5 million.”
“Members from across the House, including representatives of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, were members of that committee and everybody signed up to the report of that committee. The report stated we should not be spending too much money on the economy because there was a risk of overheating. IFAC and the Central Bank stated we should be spending €8 billion. In fairness, we pushed a little harder. We will spend that money on important things. The Government will spend that money on the most vulnerable people in our society. From a social welfare perspective, there will be a €10 increase for pensioners and carers. Those sorts of elements were looked after. We also wanted to ensure that businesses were looked after.”
“Exactly. Senior hurling. I am sure you are well able to play it down below in Kilkenny. Someone has to keep Deputy Cleere in check. This is my opportunity to speak about the budget. I have put together many budgets in my time. I have been doing budgets, in some shape or form, for the past 20 years as an accountant. It was nice to have the opportunity to be involved in some step in the process of the national budget, which is the most important budget in which anybody in the State can be involved. I have my own experience on the Committee on Budget Oversight. That committee gave me the ability to understand exactly the situation we are coming into economically, as we head into 2026. People might not necessarily have that vision or the level of information coming at them as came at me in that committee.”
“If Ireland is not known for its great food, great dairy, great beef and great tillage, then what are we as a country? Ultimately, agrifood is where we came from, it is something we specialise in and are great at. More importantly, we need to ensure that we can keep that into the future for future generations and keep that tillage flame alive. I will endeavour to work on it as best I can on behalf of the farmers of Kildare North and with my colleagues around the country and especially with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the rest of the Government.”
“They are the issues we have to think about. We are not dealing with a budget or the situation in the here and now, rather we are dealing with the future of Ireland, our self-sufficiency and how we will have food for future generations. Over the past number of years we have all seen the difficulties with supply chains as they might have existed during Covid-19 in terms of China. Ultimately, food is the one supply chain we can fix and that we do not want issues around or being stuck in ports. We need to ensure we can keep those farmers at work. From a business perspective, we know tillage is a strategic sector for the country. It helps other businesses. Deputy Moynihan alluded earlier to the impact on Irish whiskey. That is only one part of it but it shows the importance of it.”
“Across the Government, this House and the country we are all conscious that we are trying to move away from one-off measures in other areas. However, we made sure the tillage farmers, to a degree, were looked after. We dealt with it in the best possible way. The Minister is working hard and will continue to do so to ensure we have the proper structures in place for the tillage farmers, whether it is prioritising the soils, ensuring the smallholders are able to stay in it or, more importantly, converting some of those who have moved away from tillage farming to grass farming back into tillage. As Deputy Aird correctly outlined, we have lost 40% of our tillage land in the past 40 years. That is something we need to replace. Deputy Aird also referenced the difficulties of the beet farmers and what we have lost there.”
“They also sustain other businesses so when we are talking about the tillage farmers, we are talking about all the other businesses they support. The Minister recognised the pressures facing those farmers. He raised it in the parliamentary party and no doubt at Cabinet and was able to get €50 million extra for tillage supports, for the protein aid scheme, the straw incorporation measure and indeed other measures. I dealt with TAMS in my previous career and there was an extension of that. While that might not be a direct payment, it helps capital infrastructure to benefit the future. I am conscious that these big issues cannot be resolved in one budget. That is the difficulty we are facing. The Minister alluded to that in his speech.”
“The yields were strong this summer but the prices have not increased in line with those costs. We hear about the costs and we have to listen to that. As someone who was not as knowledgeable as the other people in the room, what came across to me was that there was competition in regard to grain from all across Europe, especially from eastern Europe. Our farmers have been competing but have possibly been finding it difficult because the standards being set here and the difficulties they have had with those standards maybe do not apply to the competition. In Kildare we know that those tillage farmers form the backbone of our rural economy. It is more evident in Kildare South, the Minister's constituency, although we see it all across Kildare North, around Naas, Clane and Straffan.”
“More importantly, he listened to what was being said from the floor. He engaged in-depth and took the hard questions. It was not easy to stand up that night with people's livelihoods at stake. Ultimately, that is what we are here to represent tonight. We are representing those people, those families, those dreams and that future. We want to represent them in the best way possible. As for my background in farming, in my housing estate in Leixlip, there is not much farming. However, my dad came from a dairy farm and my mother from a small farm in rural north Roscommon. There was no tillage farming. However, every day we benefit from and live off the tillage farmers in this country, so we must protect them. It was evident that night in Killashee House that there was an awareness that costs are increasing.”
“Although I am a TD for Kildare North, I do not profess to have the same knowledge of the tillage sector or indeed the agrisector as the previous speaker, Deputy William Aird, who is from my neighbouring county of Laois. At the same time, I can speak to our unity in regard to the farmers of Ireland and the work they do. Four weeks ago I attended a public meeting in Killashee House. Deputy Aird was there along with a number of public representatives. Most public representatives in attendance were from this side of the House and indeed from our party. In fact, I think all of them were from our side of the House. There were 800 people in the room. We counted as best we could. I sat off to the side but at the front was the Minister, Deputy Heydon, who was there for two to three hours. He spoke to 800 tillage farmers and gave his views.”
“Castletown House, the primary amenity we had in the area is, unfortunately, now closed. Through my work on the infrastructure committee and here I will continue to raise these issues. Ensuring we have the best possible places for our fast-growing communities is the most important thing we can do.”
“I am very aware that through the sound economic foundation set by that Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, over the years, we now have the opportunity to deliver for communities throughout the country. Not only do we have the houses but we have the facilities. I want to point out that three towns of Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth, which we all know and many of us pass on the motorway, are only a stone's throw away from each other. They are only a couple of kilometres apart. Between the three towns we have 53,000 people. This is just below the population of the city of Waterford on the list of largest towns in the country. At the same time, between these three towns there is no public swimming pool, no cinema or no small theatre people can go to.”
“I ask that urgent infrastructure issues are fast tracked and URDF funding is allocated adequately so we get the underground and overground infrastructure, and, most importantly, the social infrastructure to go along with the houses and build communities.”
“The relief road must be built. Separately, with the continuation of DART+, as highlighted by the Minister on Tuesday, I want to reiterate once again the need for the DART+ to go to Kilcock. This would help to connect another 10,000 residents to the system. Traffic issues in Clane as well as Naas must also be addressed. In my capacity as Vice Chair of the infrastructure committee I know that big projects need to be delivered. I want to be the one to ensure that, parallel to this, communities such as the towns in my constituency are not left to fend for themselves with projects left waiting for years.”
“As one of the four councillors who voted in favour of the Celbridge local area plan in 2017, for the first time designating a second bridge for the town, I want to see this delivered. A total of €10 million of URDF funding has been allocated for the bridge but additional funding will be required to see it through to completion. I continue to work with Kildare County Council and TII as they move through various phases of the project. We will need additional funding to get the project shovel ready. In Maynooth there is a university with more than 16,000 students and a town population of 17,000 people. Issues such as traffic are to the fore. School drops take too long and routine trips to the shops may mean joining endless traffic. Last Friday it took me 40 minutes to get out of the hotel car park in the town due to an accident on the N4.”
“This development would have been eligible for the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, in the past but no new tranches of the grant have been introduced recently. Unfortunately, the project is not being further developed. As outlined in the budget, €300 million will be given to the URDF, which will help to support the regeneration of our towns and urban areas but we need to ensure Kildare projects in the north of the county will be included. My fear is the URDF is overly focused on regenerating older towns rather than helping to build new towns with bigger populations than those old towns, and I will continue to raise this. In Celbridge there are traffic management issues that cause congestion multiple times a day.”
“Since the establishment of the Government we have seen the focus put on infrastructure and delivery and I welcome this. Projects such as MetroLink, the DART+ programme and the national broadband plan, along with many others, will have huge positive impacts on our country in years to come. Five towns were added to the living city initiative in the budget, which is great to see. I would like to speak to the needs of towns in Kildare, and the many projects needed to ensure Kildare, which has such a rapidly growing population each year, is not left behind in terms of implementing key infrastructure and building communities and not just housing. In my home town of Leixlip a housing development with 900 new houses was recently built around the appropriately named Wonderful Barn.”
“In my first speech in this Chamber I highlighted the need for major upgrades in infrastructure in the State and I used many examples in my county of infrastructural deficiencies and issues that need to be resolved. As Vice Chair of the new infrastructure committee I focused extensively on obtaining an understanding of the blockages in the system and the difficulties we have throughout the State in delivering the key infrastructure we need. We are working closely with the Department of public expenditure and key State agencies to highlight and resolve these. Today I want to continue to highlight the need for key infrastructure project delivery in Kildare North, in light of the significant focus on infrastructure in the budget.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. His colleagues, the two Ministers of State, have been very helpful in dealing with any queries and issues I have with the Department. I thank the Minister for his work since he came in, as well as his diligence, especially on this key issue. When people commit offences we need to ensure there are places for them, but we also need to ensure there is outreach and that when people come out of our prisons they are fully back in as members of our society. As I said, the question I ask pertained specifically to the increase in population and the need for prison spaces in line with that. I do not think anybody would say that would not be required. As the Minister has set out, our national development plan, which is our plan for the country, deals with that.”
“I also want to ensure that they remain in prison and serve out their sentences in full, particularly as they were found guilty, and that they will not be let out because we do not have the space for them.”
“I fully agree that incarceration is not always the answer. At the same time, we need to ensure that there are places in our prisons for those who commit offences. We also need to ensure that they know this. We have a great body of prison officers. They are some of the best people in our country. They work really hard and diligently on our behalf. I know many of them personally. We need to make sure the places in which they work are the best possible, are upgraded and not overcrowded. A fear people have is that they might see people going in and out of courts and perhaps not getting the sentences they should. That is a different issue. I want to ensure that there are places for those who are found guilty and to whom sentences are handed down.”
“There is a facility like that in Kerdiffstown in County Kildare. I also want to speak about the major events programme. We have been very successful as a Government. The NFL was here over the weekend. It has had a huge impact globally, especially in the US. I thank the Government for its work. I hope the funding will go back to the Exchequer and the local clubs across all sports.”
“I do not see why, with the help of the Government and in light of development levies that are coming in, we cannot ensure that we get the money for facilities to communities that directly need it. This would be really positive, and it is a something I am heavily involved in pursuing. I see this as the mechanism through which we could deliver what I have outlined in the short term. I have not been found wanting as a councillor for my local clubs over the years and we have delivered super facilities. We now need to take the next step and move outside local clubs to larger communities where multiple towns can user larger facilities. As our towns and villages grow, we need multisport facilities. Where land is at a premium, we need to develop pitches where rugby, soccer and GAA clubs can all use the pitch on different nights.”
“We need to look at how we can help the clubs involved, which might not have easy access and for which renting facilities is core. Obviously, no one likes to rent in the long term. We need to get around that. We have a significantly growing population all across north Kildare, all the way from Naas to Johnstown and back over to Leixlip through Maynooth and Kilcock. We know there is a huge need for a swimming pool in north-east Kildare, particularly Celbridge. We have put forward a plan for the swimming pool in Maynooth University to be rejuvenated. We will ensure, through the large-scale infrastructure funding, that we will be able to get help towards that with contributions from Kildare County Council. Ultimately, local authorities need to take a lead role on larger scale local infrastructure projects.”
“We are talking about sports infrastructure. More than many, I, as a coach, and my children have benefited in recent years from different facilities we have been able to develop locally by means of the sports capital grants. As stated by previous speakers, these grants are a very efficient way of spending and receiving money. Who best to spend the money in local areas than people who run clubs efficiently and so well? As I said, in local sports clubs - GAA clubs, soccer clubs, rugby clubs and even athletics clubs - I have seen the huge impact this funding has made. That said, there are other groups that we need to acknowledge and that need help. For example, basketball has taken off, especially among girls. The cost of basketball facilities is huge.”
“A mechanism must, therefore, be found for savings and investment schemes which would be sensible and tax efficient to ensure ordinary people can benefit along with Irish incorporated businesses. Also, Ireland currently applies a stamp duty of 1% on the trading of shares, which is much higher than other EU states, many of which apply a 0% rate. With all of this, can the Minister outline what steps this Government will take to ensure growth and renewal in this key area of our economy?”
“The issue that I am raising here today relates to the Irish Stock Exchange and its importance to the success of Irish incorporated companies and, indeed, Irish investors. The decline of companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange has been well reported, with a decline from up to 100 in 1999 to a current level of 24. This decline is in stark contrast to the growth in the wealth of the Irish economy since then. Irish people are saving also at a higher rate than they have done before. While this is positive, some of this wealth could be used as investment in Irish SMEs as they transition to publicly listed companies. This could lead to a greater democratisation of wealth and ensure that the value created by Irish companies does not just remain in the hands of the few and, indeed, private equity.”
“I know he will continue to engage with me on areas of north Kildare, and indeed, if there is any way I can assist him on the national policy, I would be more than willing to do so too. I thank him for his time today.”
“We must also be conscious of the fact that not every community or sector will have those people - they just might not be there - and that is when we must ensure that we look for and fill the gaps in different areas using a more top-down approach, when effort is not coming from the ground up. We need to ensure that social enterprises provide employment for people. I have seen the benefit of this for people who are long-term unemployed or for migrants who are new to an area and want get involved in the locality. Social enterprises can be key in that regard. I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this. I welcome the work done on it and the Minister of State's effort. I can see the hands-on approach to what he is doing. I thank him for his time in listening to the points I have made.”
“In a growing region like north Kildare, we do not necessarily have all of the facilities we need. We have housing but we do not necessarily have all of the other facilities that we need. Social enterprises can be tailored and can provide community solutions that larger organisations or the Government cannot get involved with initially. The Trading for Impact policy is about unlocking the full potential of social enterprise. This is not about charity. It is about supporting those groups, funding those groups and ensuring that the people involved can be drivers of sustainable jobs, inclusion and innovation in their communities. Ultimately, without those people and without some policy direction, communities will be left behind.”
“By learning from others, we can help new people to get involved. On Monday, I was lucky to go to Kildare town to meet members of the Kildare LEADER partnership, including Tara Lane and Rioana Mulligan. They were setting things up for lots of other groups to learn about where they could potentially avail of funding. The LEADER group in Kildare has been very innovative in terms of how it deals with social enterprises. The Minister of State will going to Lullymore soon to speak with members of the Kildare LEADER group. I grew up in an urban area but I know that social enterprises can fit in especially well in rural areas, where services and businesses might not be operating to the scale they could be. We see people in these areas getting fully behind the enterprise.”
“That will bring its own complications because not every group has the skill sets required, whether that is in relation to financial support, financial knowledge, fundraising ability or how to deal with children in the case of a youth club, for example. All of those things require very specific skill sets and we need to ensure, through this policy document, that local groups know what to refer to or where to go to ensure they are going in the right direction. Ultimately, what we are dealing with is ordinary people in their communities who see a gap, who see that something needs to be put in place and who go out to fix it. They are not going to have all of the solutions and that is where the Government has to come in. That is what the Minister of State is attempting to do with this policy document.”
“McAuley Place in Naas is another good example. It has looked after the elderly and other vulnerable groups who need care. Another example is the Mill in Celbridge, which provides a forum for various groups, including sports clubs and community groups, to utilise its facilities. I recognise the difficulty of what we are trying to do as well as how difficult it can be to grasp what we are trying to do. In essence, most of these groups come from the ground up but we are trying to put a policy in place from the top down, from the Government. We are trying to encapsulate and direct what people do on the ground, in the community. Ultimately, that will be very hard, if not impossible, to deliver. What the Minister of State is trying to do with this policy is to put guidelines in place for people.”
“The centre was started in the community 40 years ago and now has a number of employees. It has provided some people with work opportunities that they may not have otherwise had. Others gained work experience there and moved on to career paths. That is what is enabled in community centres around the country. Specific groups like the Clane Project Centre have delivered something way beyond their initial capability through fundraising initially, followed by good investment decisions. They have been able to give to their community in a number of different ways. They have helped other local groups by taking them under their umbrella. Groups like the Clane Men's Shed, whose members met the Minister of State, have been able to utilise the vision, wisdom and effort of the people who started the Clane Project Centre a number of years ago.”
“Today, I want to talk about something that I firmly believe in and have worked in. I have seen the effort involved in our own communities. The Minister of State has been leading on this since taking up his position in recent months. I have met him a number of times in north Kildare and know that he has been all around the country because he believes in what he is doing. He believes in the importance of social enterprises and in this Trading for Impact project. I met him in Clane and he will be coming to Lullymore soon in the context of working with social enterprises. I have been involved in social enterprises myself that came in different guises. We have spoken here about community centres and cafés. I have been involved in my local community centre in Leixlip and have seen the benefit of it. I was chairman for a number of years.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. I welcome the work that has been going into this and the efforts that this Government and the previous Government have made in putting forward the hot meals programme. Ultimately, it is there to provide meals to people who might not be in a situation to get them otherwise. This is definitely something we need to encourage. It is a great idea but we do need to monitor waste. In fairness, the Minister's team is working on that. As I have said, the Minister is providing the budget for 682,000 students in 3,700 schools. That is a huge effort and a huge contribution from the State to those children's daily lives. However, as I have said, it is important that we get feedback from the schools that we can analyse to help improve the process they are engaged in.”
“I thank the Minister for his very genuine response and for his commitment. As he outlined, he is very aware of the contribution that foster carers make. He has demonstrated his knowledge on the topic and his willingness to engage further in the coming weeks and during in his term as Minister. It is something we will continue to work on together and I will follow up on it. I thank the Minister for answering the question so clearly and with a depth of knowledge and understanding of the issue.”
“We want to ensure they are looked after and that there is fairness and equity in the scheme in this way. As I have said, we have a plan to do it. I thank the Minister for his comment. I hope it is something we can look into in future.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. I am especially conscious of the words in the programme for Government whereby we will seek to examine the pension provision for foster carers to acknowledge their long-term commitment and ensure valued support after years of fostering. I am very conscious that 4,000 foster carers in Ireland provide a service which, as with services provided by other people in this area, benefits the State and makes a difference to individual lives. They help people not only during the time they are with them but also for the rest of their lives. They give them a stable environment which they may not have had otherwise. Deputy Timmins outlined the gender balance issue because most typically it is women who look after children in these situations.”
“What are the Minister's plans to develop a pension solution for foster carers in recognition of the enormous contribution they make to vulnerable children in our society, as committed to in the programme for Government?”
“Auto-enrolment will strengthen our economy by boosting savings and enabling people to look forward to the future. It will level the playing field so that all employers contribute. As someone who has worked with employers, I am conscious that they are concerned about costs. We need to allay their fears and ensure that we support companies in other ways. If we do this properly, we can support companies and employees. Ultimately, this is an investment in the State and its people. It is also an investment in their future and in fairness. This is a balanced reform. It will protect and respect workers. More importantly, however, it will help to secure Ireland's future.”
“In the long run, this will help tackle inequality, especially for those lower and middle-income workers who might be outside the State net. These are people who need that help. What is going to happen will be simple, transparent and fair and will be done at the behest of the employer. That will be important. As the previous speaker so elegantly alluded to, this has not always been the opportunity down through the centuries. In the modern world of the 21st century, we now have the opportunity to ensure that poverty does not await as they finish their working lives. We hope not to see elderly people in Ireland working in McDonald's like their counterparts across the sea who, tragically, who worked all their lives and who have had to continue to work into their 70s. That is something we are trying to do away with.”
“It is one of the most important social reforms of our generation and will give every worker in Ireland the security of a pension for the future. When I joined the workforce, I was one of those people who, after college that my 20s were going to last forever. When they hit their 30s, you think they will also last forever. Unfortunately, once you hit your 40s, you realise that this might not always last forever. It is not that you begin to see the finishing line, but you know that it is there. This is something I began to focus in on at that point. I say that as a trained accountant who should have known better. In such circumstances, we need to ensure that what is proposed becomes mandatory across the board. For the first time, hundreds of thousands of people will be added.”
“The issue that we are here to speak about is something that has been a national topic for many of us who have stood outside schools recently. We saw the importance of pensions and what they mean to caretakers and school secretaries. What we are talking about here, however, is across the board; it represents a sea change in how we look at pensions for the nation. From a State perspective, we need to give out pensions where we can, but what we must also do is look beyond that. This is what we are trying to do here. What is proposed represents a significant step. It was brought in by one of the candidates for in the presidential election, Heather Humphreys, when she was Minister. When it comes in, My Future Fund will provide the opportunity for 800,000 people to avail of pensions in a way that they have never done before.”
“For next year, I ask that Bus Éireann engage continually with those contractors over the summer. New schools are not built in that timeframe. Kids are not going to school in hugely different numbers in different areas. Surely there can be a mechanism whereby when the leaving certificate examinations and primary school years have finished towards the end of June, we can be ready to start again at the end of August. Perhaps through more communication, we could bring things to a better space. I know the Minister of State has been listening. I am sure he has been hearing these sorts of comments in his office. I thank him for the time to allow my voice and the voices of the constituents who put the matter to me in recent weeks to be heard.”
“Another constituent received a response outlining that if a family was advised, through direct contact or displayed on their online account, that there was no capacity to issue tickets for their children, they could be assured that Bus Éireann had exhausted all avenues to accommodate pupils. It went on to state that it was not open to Bus Éireann to create additional capacity or engage additional vehicles. I have a major question arising from the responses received. Bus Éireann knew in early June the exact number of pupils who would need school bus tickets for the following year. If it is not up to Bus Éireann, who can create additional capacity or engage additional vehicles? Is it up to the parents themselves? Is it up to us, because we are the ones who are asked questions? It is not. It is up to Bus Éireann.”
“Multiple families have reached out to me to say they were told in early August that their children had received tickets servicing areas between Maynooth and Kilcock, areas outside Naas, only to be told the week after the children returned to school that the bus service would not be running. When questioned on this, Bus Éireann told one constituent that it had trouble setting up transport on some routes, including that of the constituent. It stated that a number of difficulties had arisen in some localities with a small number of contracted services, including the service intended for the children of my constituent. It stated that in some cases, those difficulties had arisen due to a lack of driver or contractor availability. That is not good enough, considering that people had sought those routes multiple months earlier.”
“Unfortunately, they are then told - many were told only a week or two before school returned - that there will be no buses available. This causes huge difficulty for families. It has huge implications. People were ready to travel to work sure that their kids would be brought to school by a bus. In my constituency, they might have been commuting to Dublin and elsewhere and believed they would be able to drop their kids off at a spot at, for example, Johnstown Bridge at 7.30 a.m. or Clane at 7.15 a.m. However, they were then told at the last minute that they would not be able to do so and that different plans would have to be made. This is not good enough.”
“It was not solely my office that was inundated. I am sure the Minister of State's own office and, indeed, all constituency offices across the country were inundated with similar issues. Having listened to other Deputies on this topic, I am left wondering how it is such a big problem every year. It seems to catch us almost by surprise. Here we are, school buses are needed and people need places. Unfortunately, it repeats itself all the time. We get the same calls. We know we should have bus drivers over 70. Everybody seems to say that, yet nobody seems able to put it in place and we are here facing the same questions. Some of the biggest issues we have are, as people near the start of the school year, they have their uniforms bought, their schoolbooks ready and their bus tickets ready to go.”