Serious concerns have been raised about the allocation of school transport bus tickets ahead of the next school year.
Galway East TD Seán Canney said in the Dáil that he had recently attended a public meeting in Abbeyknockmoy concerned with school transport.
Dozens of families who had gotten school bus tickets in previous years were “pushed out” of the system this year by a “late, ill-thought-out” cost of living measure.
The allocation of school bus tickets is leaving many families forced to rent private buses at a cost of €850 per child.
“The meeting was held because the school bus application process is coming to an end and payments have to be made by 9 June, after which ticket allocations will be made to parents.”
“The fear is that there will be many more people on the road trying to get to school even while school buses are not full because the people allocated tickets have not taken them up.”
“People will be driving in cars after these buses to bring their children to school. This is an ill-thought-out way of providing school transport.”
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said that reducing the cost of school transport was an “important intervention” in the cost of living crisis.
“The measures from last year that the Deputy referred to resulted from a decision to reduce the charge to €50 per student at primary level and €75 per student at post-primary level, with a cap per family of €125.”
“First, that was an important intervention from the Government to try to help with the cost of living, and with what we know is one of the biggest daily costs in people’s lives, which is the cost of transport.”
The Minister said that a review of school transport scheme is currently underway, but that until it is completed, the government can only ensure that those eligible under the current scheme have their needs met.
Deputy Canney acknowledged that the scheme works to a “certain extent”, but added that every TD has received queries in recent months, “from people who previously were getting concessionary tickets and who were refused them last year.”
“The bus was passing them by, where people had not taken up their allocation of tickets and there were seats on the bus.”
“The school transport team on the ground was taking the brunt of the anger from parents about this, which was totally unfair as well.”
He also noted that Newtown National School in Abbeyknockmoy, where the public meeting aired these concerns, feeds into Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew, where all 6th class students are due to attend next year.
“Will the Department of Education provide the necessary buses to make sure that our children can get to school without their parents having to pay for it?”
