PARENTS of secondary school students attending Schull Community College who have no seats on the school bus said they are four weeks into the new school term with no hope of a finding a solution, writes Kieran O’Mahony.
The 13 students from the Kilcoe area were told by Bus Éireann before school term commenced that they would not be offered ‘concessionary’ school bus tickets to travel to Schull Community College, despite paying the €75 for the ticket upfront.
Under the School Transport Scheme, ‘concessionary tickets’ are given to students if there are seats on the bus when they wish to attend a school that isn’t the nearest to them.
Since the new school term commenced at the end of August parents of these children have been forced to drive them in and out of Schull on a daily basis.
Sinéad Hourihane, whose son is in Junior Cert at Schull Community College, said what they need is a bigger bus to cater for her son and other students.
‘There are 32 students on the bus already but a lot of the time the contractor is using a 45-seater bus so we could get that bus for the school route,’ she said.
‘We were told at the end of the summer that our application for a concessionary bus ticket was unsuccessful and since then I’ve bene driving in and out to Schull twice a day and car pooling.’
It is understood that progress is being made between Bus Éireann and the Department of Education to resolve the situation but it is not over the line yet.
