Parents of school-going children in Cavan Monaghan are already worrying about their school travel arrangements under the School Bus Scheme for next September.
Aontú Senator Sarah O’ Reilly says she is inundated with queries from parents, concerned about the pick-up zone distance under the School Transport Scheme.
Explaining the criteria, Senator O’ Reilly says
“A primary school pupil must live at least 3.2km from their nearest school to qualify for a bus place. In 2024 it was mooted that the qualifying distance will be reduced to 2km and then eventually 1km for primary pupils”.
“Due to the clever use of language by this Government many parents believed that this new distance had already been introduced and now these families are stuck not knowing what to believe”.
“The pick-up zone restrictions particularly penalise those in rural areas. We cannot be so rigid with the distance rule, when many children who live in a rural area have no option but to travel by car in order to get to school safely”.
“One of my constituents is in a situation where there are 12 students on their road who did not meet the criteria and are not eligible for the bus. That is 6 parents, 6 cars driving in and out the road twice a day, leaving work early to do collections. This is clearly untenable and is causing untold stress and real worry to parents who now have the additional fear that their employment might be compromised because of their personal family circumstances”.
“This is a nightmare scenario for many, and it is placing an unfair burden on whole families. This situation is also impacting the children themselves, as not knowing how they are to get home in the evening is creating a sense of uncertainty and insecurity and this is not good for their mental health”.
“Our young people deserve better than having to deal with this avoidable stress by missing out on an unfair lottery system”.
“The Government is great at double speak; it gives lip service to the reduction of carbon omissions and yet it seems wholly unable to provide a public service transport service that is actually fit for purpose”.
“People need real clarity on this issue, they have had enough of ‘fudge’ and I am calling on the Minister of Education to provide a very clear roadmap of how this is going to be phased in over the next few years”.
