Fermoy school brings bus protest to Dáil
An appeal is due to be heard today into the loss of the bus service, which Fermoy Adair National School says is unjustified and should be reversed. It is one of 103 primary schools and 14 second level schools where a bus route was taken away from last month because the school did not have the minimum 10 pupils living at least 3.2 kilometres away.
Part of the criteria in the Department of Education school transport scheme, operated by Bus Éireann, is that those pupils should be living in a distinct locality.
While there were 10 children for whom applications were submitted, the department said it has been told by Bus Éireann that they live at scattered points to the north, south, east and west of the school.
Fermoy Adair NS principal Heather Smith said none of this year’s pupils are coming that far from the north. But regardless, she said, the rules do not take into account the fact that the union of Church of Ireland parishes which make up the school’s catchment have an area covering 400 square miles.
“It has traditionally been our distinct locality, as we have only one bus service for our minority school,” she said.
“Article 42 of the Constitution respects the right of parents to provide for the religious education of their children, yet the policies of Government deliberately curtail access to education which reflects the ethos of a family,” Ms Smith said.
She and some of the 37 pupils and their families travelled to the Dáil in Dublin to make their concerns known ahead of the affected parents’ case being heard by a school transport appeals board in the next few days.
The department said grants of up to €900 a year for private transport are available to families of children attending the school for whom it is the nearest Protestant school.
But Ms Smith said the €900 offered to families living 19km from the school equates to six cent per kilometre (for two return journeys a day to the school) even though experts say it costs 27c per kilometre to operate a modest car.
Fermoy Adair NS argues that, although just 20 of the 321 schools in Co Cork are under Church of Ireland management, it is unacceptable four of the 15 Cork schools to lose a bus service are Church of Ireland.
A department spokesperson said the difference between continuing the bus service and paying grants to eligible families is around €20,000 a year. The changes affecting 100 out of 6,000 primary school bus routes are part of a €17m savings target in this year’s school transport budget.
