All school bus options studied, minister claims

EVERY option to avoid cutting places on school buses in rural communities has been considered and Bus Éireann’s €16.7 million fee for running the system is no “pot of gold”, junior minister Ciarán Cannon has claimed.

He was urged by Kerry South Independent TD Tom Fleming yesterday to listen to proposals from private bus operators, parents and teachers who believe changes to the school transport scheme can be avoided. Among those taking effect next autumn and in 2012 are an extension of the distance families must live from some schools to qualify for school transport and an end to eligibility criteria in communities where hundreds of rural schools merged in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr Fleming told the Oireachtas Select Sub-Committee on Education that the loss of transport services is causing huge worry. These were raised at a public meeting in Listowel last week attended by Mr Cannon, and due to be aired at a similar meeting in Galway next week.