‘Foley acting like she doesn’t care about school transport’

EDUCATION Minister Norma Foley has turned down five opportunities to address the school transport ‘debacle’ at the Oireachtas Education Committee.

Furious TDs told the Irish Daily Mail last night that the Fianna Fáil Minister was showing ‘contempt for the Committee’, with the Labour Party warning that Minister Foley was ‘inviting a motion of no confidence’.

However, the party’s education spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin would not go as far to say whether the party would table such a motion when the Dáil returns.

As part of the Government’s cost-of-living package announced in July, it was confirmed school transport fees would be waived for the new academic year.

This led to what Bus Éireann described as ‘unprecedented demand’ to access the service as more than 130,000 people applied. Around 9,000 pupils were still without seats on buses last week.

Last Friday, the Oireachtas Education Committee invited Minister Foley to attend a meeting tomorrow [weds] to discuss the issue.

However, in an email sent to members last night, it was confirmed that Minister Foley would not be able to meet TDs and Senators until October 12.

When she declined the invitation, four other times were suggested to Minister Foley. This included tomorrow evening, two different times on Wednesday, September 14 and another meeting Thursday, September 15.

She turned down all of these offers to address the committee.

Mr Ó Ríordáin told the Mail Minister Foley is treating the committee with ‘disdain’.

‘She’s inviting a motion of no confidence in her stewardship of the education department at this stage,’ the Labour TD said.

‘There has been debacle after debacle. From school places for children with disabilities, to the teacher supply crisis at primary and second level.

‘Now she is refusing to actually engage with the most pressing issue around the country, which is school transport.

‘She is acting like someone who doesn’t care.’

Fine Gael TD and Chair of the Oireachtas Education Committee Paul Kehoe said Ms Foley’s decision not to engage with the committee on school transport was very disappointing’. He told the Mail that Committee members have been inundated with calls to their constituency offices about the issue. ‘I have fielded literally hundreds of phone calls to my office regarding school transport,’ he said. ‘I told every one of them that at the earliest opportunity I would be asking the Minister before the Committee. I’ve been contacted by most members on the committee at this stage. They all were asking me when the committee would be bringing Norma Foley in. ‘I know she is extremely busy, I was a Minister myself. I never once Fees: Norma Foley turned down [an invitation to discuss] an urgent issue like this.

‘A Minister is answerable to the Dáil and a Committee is part and parcel of that. Time is running out for a huge amount of parents. Minister Foley needs to tell the Committee what she is doing to address this issue.’

Sinn Féin’s Education spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, meanwhile, said Ms Foley was ‘hiding from accountability’.

He argued that the Oireachtas Education Committee had ‘clearly done everything it can to accommodate the Minister’.

‘She is saying we can deal with this stuff on October 12 when she appears in front of the Committee,’ he said. ‘That is far too far off. It is more than a month away. This is showing a lot of contempt for parents and children who have been left high and dry and are in a really difficult situation.’

A spokesman for Minister Foley did not respond to requests for comment last night.

‘Time’s running out for parents’