Protestant school pupils lose bus appeal

GOVERNMENT aspirations to allow for more diverse school populations have been branded as pointless by the principal of a Protestant school where more than a quarter of pupils have been refused a school bus service.

The parents of 10 pupils at Fermoy Adair National School were told on Monday that their appeal against the decision to withdraw their bus was unsuccessful. But they claim that the rules do not take account of the school being the nearest Church of Ireland school and their right to send their children to a school of their ethos.

The mother of two pupils who lives more than 10 miles from the school said that, although there is a Catholic school two miles away, she and her Catholic husband are entitled to send their daughters to a school with the ethos of their choosing.