Unlicensed buses carry ‘hundreds’ of children to school

PARENTS groups have called for all buses carrying young people to be placed under the same regulations as those operating under the State-funded school transport system.

Jim Jackman, president of the National Parents Council - Post Primary (NPC-PP) said he has anecdotal evidence that hundreds of children are being brought to and from school each day on buses hired by parents themselves.

“A lot of this has to do with outdated and unfair catchment boundaries for school transport, but regardless of that, it seems that these buses hired privately do not come under the same strategic checks as those contracted to Bus Éireann,” he said.