Parents say Beara bus stops short

Service users have to walk 1km after drop-off

BY SARAH CANTY

THE long-awaited bus to bring disability service users from Beara to Bantry, has fallen well short of requirements, according to parents.

The bus was sought to provide an essential transport link for service users of Bantry’s National Learning Network, CoAction, the West Cork Sudbury School and Youthreach.

But parents and service users say the bus only stops at the Square in Bantry, with the passengers having to make their own way to their services. And the timetable leaves them waiting for a few hours on a Friday for a pick-up.

Frustrated Castletownbere mother Kate, who has been campaigning with others for the service since last year, told The Southern Star that she received an email about the new service on the June bank holiday Friday, giving just four working days’ notice before the service commenced – on Monday June 12th.

As well as discovering that the bus will not deliver the students to the door of their services, they also realised that the regular bus from Eyeries will miss the new bus by 40 minutes. 

In addition, the pupils using the new bus on Fridays would have to wait hours until pick-up time, leaving vulnerable service users unable to attend on those days.

Hartnett’s private bus was provided last year after St Vincent de Paul and Beara West Family Resource Centre stepped in with a donation of €7,600 and grant of €3,600 respectively, but the parents were looking for the State to provide a service since then, and appealed to the National Transport Authority (NTA). 

It took until this month for the NTA service to be provided, but now parents say the scheduling and drop-off points are not suitable.

The previous bus had dropped the users to the doors of their relevant services, offering a safe and secure link which reassured parents.

‘The new bus service will drop our young adults to Bantry Square. It is a 1km walk up the hill to St Goban’s and we have been told there is no possibility of transport to these facilities. Safeguarding is a key issue here,’ Kate told The Southern Star. 

She said students had been paying for the private bus from their disability allowance, even though they have bus passes. ‘Ideally, the government would fund the current private service. It is appropriate, working well, and in place already,’ she noted.

The families say they will use the new bus for this week, but have scheduled an emergency meeting in the hope that the NTA will urgently address their concerns. ‘Otherwise, our young adults may well be at home on the Beara next week,’ said Kate.

Social Democrats leader, local TD Holly Cairns said the matter was ‘deeply frustrating’. ‘The government is aware of the issues, which I have brought up repeatedly in the Dáil,’ she said. ‘I cannot understand why this service was not developed in consultation with local people, and in particular the service users themselves.’