School bus rule changes are an attack on rural Ireland, claim teachers

CHANGES to school bus rules are an attack on rural Ireland and will mean new pupils travelling to different schools or their parents paying fares that are four times what they pay for their older brothers and sisters, teachers claimed yesterday.

When hundreds of rural schools were closed in the 1960s and 1970s, commitments were made to those communities that transport would be provided to newly formed amalgamated schools for families whose children previously attended the closed schools. But the closed schools rule was amended in last December’s budget, meaning new pupils at those schools from September 2012 will no longer be automatically eligible for free or reduced cost travel.

Joe Lyons from the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation’s Limerick city branch told the union’s annual congress that children in those areas were entitled to expect that commitments made when their own local school was closed should be honoured.