School bus applicants set to be rejected

Junior education minister John Halligan has conceded some parents who have applied to put their children on a school bus will have their applications rejected and will have to make alternative arrangements.

Mr Halligan’s comments came after the Irish Examiner revealed last week that, as of last Friday, more than 2,000 applications for concessionary school bus places had yet to be processed — despite many schools returning last week for the new term.

Children who live more than 3.2km from their nearest primary school or 4.8km from their closest secondary school, are entitled to school transport.

However, those who do not attend their nearest school do not have an automatic entitlement to a seat on the school bus and must apply for a seat on a concessionary basis.

Last Saturday, this newspaper revealed that, so far, Bus Éireann had received 25,345 applications for concessionary school transport, but only 23,275 had received bus tickets by last Friday.

Some parents had also been told there was no seat on the bus for their child.

Yesterday, Mr Halligan said he is restricted by both his budget and a policy adopted prior to him taking office.

“There is no child with eligibility not getting transport today or tomorrow,” Mr Halligan told Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1.

“The distance and the criteria and requisite distance was set down in 2011 and it was 3.2km for primary school children and 4.8km for post primary school children, this is what I am left with at present.

“This is Dáil legislation brought through. Should we change that? I don’t know but let’s be honest and be upfront with one another.

“Where do we stop? Do we stop if someone says ‘look, I’m a kilometre short’, ‘I’m two kilometres short’, where does it begin and where does it end?

“This is the criteria set down. Bus Éireann determine the route, they determine the shortest distance.

“I’m bound by the regulations that are here at present, the money that’s given to my department, and I think we do our best and the scheme essentially works pretty well, but we do have some problems and there’s no point in saying otherwise.

“I have three young girls that I have to take to school every day, collect them and so on and I know the difficulty that parents have all over the country in difficult conditions.”

“If I had my way there is no child that wanted to go to school that would not get the transport but I am obliged by what is set down, the money that I have, the requisite distance criteria set down by the department, to abide by that.

“If I start giving way at present on the distance, on the money and so, I would be called in by the secretary general who would say I am putting a cost the state, and I cannot do this.”

No place for Sadhbh on school bus

Sadhbh McDonnell from Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny, yesterday spent her first day in Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School in New Ross, Co Wexford.

However there is no place for her on the school bus, no public transport is available, and her parents are unable to drop her themselves due to work commitments.

Sadhbh’s mother Sinead Foskin contacted her local school transport office last February about a bus place.

“I paid the fee before the July closing date and at no stage was I led to believe there was any possibility of Sadhbh not getting a bus ticket,” Sinead said. “I received an email from the school transport office on 10th August during a holiday in Spain to say she had been unsuccessful in securing a ticket.

“My husband works in Holland from Monday to Friday, I work for a disability service provider managing services in south Dublin, mid-Leinster and the south east. My job entails extensive travel, about 4,500km per month.

“I just would simply be unable to get Sadhbh to and from school or even commit to a consistent car-pooling arrangement. I need to take additional annual leave to take Sadhbh to and from school from 28th August but this option will soon be exhausted and I will be unable to get Sadhbh to school within a three-week period.”

Since then, she has found 17 other parents in the area with a similar dilemma. They have formed a group to find a solution, but a private bus company said it would likely have to spend €50 a week per child for a regular bus service, and a carpooling system is unworkable given parents’ working demands.

“The stress on the parents is significant and ongoing and we neither [have] the option of getting an alternative school place or securing transport to New Ross for the children to attend their schools,” said Sinead.