On my way down we were discussing the odds that Deputy Heneghan would raise the issue. I assure him that a lot of work is going on in this regard right across the education system. I will address the matter in response to the matter raised by Deputy Whitmore. I thank Deputy Heneghan for raising this important topic, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. While the Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding for public transport, neither he nor his officials have any involvement in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority. The NTA works with the public transport operators, who deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That being said, I assure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2026, the Department of Transport secured €940 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and TFI Local Link services – a significant 43% uplift, and an increase from €658.4 million in 2025. BusConnects is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State and is managed by the NTA. The aim of the network is to improve the existing Transport for Ireland system through enhanced services with high-frequency spines and new local, orbital and radial routes. In regard to the NTA's proposed merger of the Dublin Bus 130 route with the 80 route, the NTA acknowledges that, for a variety of reasons, including city centre congestion, routes such as the 80, which replaced the 26 route, did not meet the expectations of customers following the introduction of the F-spine under phase 7. When rolling out phases of the BusConnects network, the NTA commits to monitoring new services, identifying issues and implementing fixes where appropriate. The NTA takes all feedback from the public very seriously, as it should, because it is the public who are using the system. As the Deputy will be aware, on 28 November, the NTA announced that it would amend the alignment of route 80, which runs from Chapelizod to the city centre, in response to passenger needs. The amended route now continues along the north quays to O'Connell Bridge and Custom House Quay before heading north. The NTA also announced a proposal to merge route 80 with the existing route 130, which currently runs from the city centre to Clontarf. The temporary re-routing of bus route 80 will be implemented on 8 February. In the inbound direction, the re-routed route 80 will continue along the north quays to O'Connell Bridge, turning south onto D'Olier Street, College Street, College Green and Dame Street, before rejoining the existing 80 route on South Great Georges Street. The outbound direction is the same but will use Westmoreland Street instead of D'Olier Street. It is, of course, acknowledged that these changes require some passengers to make their journey in a different way. However, in other cases, customers now benefit from direct services where transfers were previously required, while others may need to interchange. The TFI 90-minute fare ensures that transfers incur no additional cost for the customer. Following discussions with-----

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I will continue with the response later if that is okay with the Deputy.

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I addressed that issue during Commencement matters in Seanad Éireann this morning as well. I assure the Deputy that I am aware of the issue.

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Regarding the 80 and the 130 bus routes, it is of course acknowledged that these changes will require some passengers to take different routes. Following on from the discussions with Dublin City Council, in 2027 and in advance of the closure of Dame Street between College Green and South Great George's Street to facilitate the College Green pedestrian plaza scheme planned by Dublin City Council, it is proposed that this temporary rerouting be removed. In this event, route 80 and route 130 will then be combined into one route on a cross-city basis. The combined route will run along the north and south quays between Heuston Station and the Custom House. The NTA understands that changes of this scale require adjustments and that some customers may experience challenges during the bedding-in period. The Department of Transport is engaging with the National Transport Authority, which will continue to monitor the situation closely and make further refinements where necessary. Recent actions taken during the roll-out of the BusConnects Dublin phase 7 demonstrated the collective and collaborative approach between the Government, the NTA and the public transport operators in being responsive to the feedback provided in the best interest of the passengers. I will relay exactly what the Deputy has said but it is also hugely important for public bodies such as the National Transport Authority to be very closely aligned and listening to the concerns of the public. Those are concerns for those who, in this instance, are using the services on a twice-daily period. When a commitment is given that leaflets will be sent out, that must be sacrosanct. It must be done because it is only with the collaboration and the goodwill of the public that we will can effect change; not just in this but right across government.

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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue because it allows me to outline where things are at. Two weeks ago, we announced the first tranche of the special classes. There will be multiples of those over the next number of weeks. It is not the case that it is just the number of classes that were announced as opening two weeks ago; there are a number of them. To reassure the Deputy, we are aware of the challenges in Wicklow, both on a special school and special class basis. I will deal with this in two pieces, if the Deputy does not mind. We moved the date to 1 October because when I came into this position last year, the deadline was 1 February. Due to Storm Éowyn and so forth, it was really 1 March before we understood the level of need. We moved back the date so that we could plan properly for right across the country and see the level of need that was there. There has been a volume of work done since the middle of October when the figures were correlated to try to meet the demand within the communities. On the point the Deputy made in relation to travelling, some of the onerous journeys that children with additional needs are travelling would try anybody. It is hugely important that we put the class in where the need is within the community. In the first instance, I reassure the Deputy that we will be opening more classes. They will be announced over the next number of weeks. We will be announcing them on a phased basis. The NCSE and the Department are working meticulously through the numbers, along with school authorities, some of which have been absolutely fantastic in putting their hands up and saying they will take a special class. We are moving with that. We have challenges in other parts of the country where we will have to work extremely hard with patron bodies and school authorities to make sure we have special classes there. There is a lot of work ongoing in relation to this. We met right up to 23 December and we were meeting early in January to do it. Regarding the children who were notified after 1 October, in a previous contribution I made to the Deputy, I said we were acutely aware of it. We are striving to make sure that all children will have school places. That is what I set out at the very start when I was appointed almost a year ago now. We are working to that basis. We understand the challenges that are there. Regarding what the Deputy has raised with me, I have seen it coming through quite clearly where there is a school place but the letter of eligibility is the issue. I assure the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education and the Department of education are working very diligently to try to resolve those matters. Regarding Wicklow, I reassure the Deputy that we are aware of the need within Wicklow. While only three special classes were on the list last week, there will be many more to follow. If we are to meet the need in Wicklow, there will be special schools and special school places. I assure the Deputy we will. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. It is important that, in the Dáil, we give information to families because they are stressed and challenged about this. We are working extremely hard. We understand their plight and their difficulties and stresses. We are trying to make sure the system works. We are changing the dates and bringing them forward. This is for better planning so that we have a better system in the future than we have had heretofore.

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I note the issue the Deputy has with the family who are looking for a letter of eligibility. If she shares with me details of that specific case, we will take it up and respond to the Deputy, rather than giving a carte blanche reply. It is important that we are very clear in our public statements that we are working extremely hard to make sure children who were notified before 1 October last have provision. We are also aware of the challenges that have arisen since 1 October. We have to make sure we do the right thing for all children. The concern I have is that we brought the date back to 1 October last year to have better planning. We will have to bring that date back further. We will make announcements about that earlier. We need to get it into the system. The challenge the Department has is that we are not getting the information early enough. We have children on the access and inclusion model, AIM, programme or on domiciliary care, which are in different Departments. We need all of that information because if we are to do the right thing and ensure we do not have endless debates on special education in the Dáil, the Seanad or committees, we need to know the challenges being faced and plan accordingly. We will move to an earlier date to ensure better planning. We have to deal with all aspects of education. The date is hugely important for proper planning. We are looking at all cases notified after 1 October and we are working extremely hard. If the Deputy shares details of individual cases she has, I will look at them and do the best I can. I thank her for raising the issue because it allows me the time to do that. I thank all Deputies for constantly raising these issues because it is hugely important to have them raised on the floor of the Dáil.

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