Castledaly students stranded with no school bus places

“I’m not letting this go, this is ridiculous,” said a defiant Fine Gael Cllr John Dolan this week, who has vowed to fight on behalf of at least ten pupils from Castledaly National School who have been left with no school transport as the new school year is about to begin.

The pupils at the centre of the school transport row were allocated tickets in previous years on a concessionary basis under the Primary School Transport Scheme due to the fact that they are not attending their closest school.

The scheme is operated by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education, and Cllr Dolan said he has been contacted by “a number of parents” in the Castledaly area who were only informed over the past two weeks that their children had not been allocated tickets for the new school year.

“It is a ridiculous situation because the bus passes by the door of these pupils and there are plenty of seats available on it, so where is the logic, and how come these parents were only informed in the last two weeks that their kids would have no transport in September? Why weren’t they told months ago when they could have made some alternative arrangements?” asked Cllr Dolan.

The local Fine Gael Cllr said rural schools depend very much on pupil numbers in order to retain teaching staff and ensure the future of rural education. “One of my major concerns is if these pupils were to move to a different school it could have serious implications for Castledaly National School,” he claimed.

Under the terms of the Primary School Transport Scheme, pupils who are not attending their nearest school are offered transport on a concessionary basis

“When the number of applications for school transport on a concessionary basis exceeds the number of seats available, Bus Éireann determines the allocation of tickets using a computerised random selection process” explained a Bus Éireann spokesperson in a letter sent to Minister Peter Burke, who had made representations on behalf of one of the families affected by the decision.

The Bus Éireann spokesperson went on to say that one of the conditions of primary concessionary travel is that “routes will not be extended or altered, additional vehicles will not be introduced, nor will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children travelling on a concessionary basis; no additional State cost will be incurred.”

Cllr Dolan said there is “absolutely no need” for Bus Éireann to take any action to put on a bigger bus or alter their route. “The bus passes the door of these kids with plenty of empty seats, it’s just a ridiculous situation that these kids are left with no transport at this late stage, and I will continue to fight tooth and nail on their behalf,” he vowed.

The local Cllr said parents had applied for the Primary School Transport Scheme “as far back as last April” and for them to be informed that their children weren’t being allocated tickets only a week or two ago was “completely unacceptable..”

All the parents of the children involved are all working and are now left “high and dry” with no alternative transport plans in place. “What in God’s name were the people in the Transport Section doing all summer that they couldn’t let these parents know. I won’t be letting this go,” he ended.