School bus fees for 1,000 pupils may be cut

Hundreds of families with medical cards who were forced to pay €350 fares after school bus rule changes could be given a reduction in next year’s budget.

Ciarán Cannon, minister for training and skills, said 800 to 1,000 children may have been hit with the charges after changes to transport rules mean they no longer travel for free.

The rule-change affects families whose children were living in the catchment area of the school they attended. Those boundaries are no longer considered and the only criteria now is that a student must be attending their nearest school for automatic entitlement to a place or for free travel in the case of those with medical cards.