Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Deputy Pearse Doherty has today (Wednesday) called for urgent action from both school transport provider, Bus Éireann and the Minister with Responsibility for School Tranport, John Halligan, to address the growing number of cases involving students being denied bus places for the upcoming academic year, despite having been in receipt of school transport in previous years.
Deputy Doherty said:
“Over the last number of days, my office has been contacted by a number of parents of children who have been refused access to the school transport scheme for the coming school year, even though many of these students had been allocated a school bus place previously.
Deputy Pearse Doherty
“I’ve been notified of cases involving pupils who are entering into their last year of primary school and whom were in receipt of school transport for several years, who have been refused a school bus ticket for this September, while I know of other children who had been granted concessionary tickets in the past have been refused access for this year.
“One such case reported to me involves a family of children all of whom attend the same school and who previously took the bus to school as part of the scheme, but this year have been refused a place while the bus itself which serves the route has been downgraded from a 24-seater to a small minibus as and from September.
“School distance rules introduced by Fianna Fáil and carried on by both the previous and current Governments are also causing a great deal of problems for families since they were first introduced, while almost 20% of all students availing of school transport do so on a concessionary basis which means that students are constantly fearful of losing the service altogether should numbers availing of a bus place increase.
“With regards to these latest cases, the fact that parents have only been informed that their children will not have a place on the school bus in late August, only days before they are due to go back to school, is a complete farce and is completely unfair for these families.
“The Minister made a commitment in the Dáil that no student would lose a seat on routes this September while a review of the scheme is underway and it appears now that this is not the case.
“I have personally contacted Bus Éireann on behalf of a number of these families, and I am continuing to seek answers from the company.
“Clearly both Bus Éireann and the Minister of State need to immediately come together and take action here to safeguard school transport for pupils throughout Donegal and to ensure that children can avail of safe and reliable travel to and from school each day.”
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