State makes a U-turn on school bus service reductions

Controversial reductions in school transport levels across rural Galway have been reversed following the intervention of politicians – and the fact that they were highlighted in the local media.

That included a scandalous situation in East Galway when a special needs pupil would be provided with school transport – but his sister could not get on the same bus because of bizarre Department of Education regulations.

The issue was highlighted in The Connacht Tribune and within days the matter had been resolved with the help of a Ballinasloe-based county councillor.

Since then there have been similar school bus anomalies that have been highlighted by local politicians, many of which have been resolved because of their intervention.

In the past week the Department of Transport has given commitments over school transport in the Annaghdown, Corrandulla and Corofin areas.

It follows a meeting held between the Department and Councillor James Charity, who sought guarantees on long-running issues relating to eligibility.

Many children have been unable to find space in their nearest school due to capacity issues – but were previously told they would not be eligible for transport to a different school.

Cllr Charity says many other children in the area lost their eligibility due to mapping errors and poor route calculation by Bus Eireann.

The independent councillor says a commitment has now been given that children in the area will be eligible for transport to the nearest available school.

Cllr Charity also says that the number of buses serving Claregalway Secondary School will increase this year.

“A series of errors in calculating routes by Bus Eireann over the last two years has seen many children in these areas have their eligibility for school bus transport to local secondary schools revoked.

“This was as a result of Bus Eireann re-determining routes used for calculating distance on its online system but now they have rectified their own internal errors.

“In many cases, this led to children, whose parents choose one secondary school based on the fact it was their nearest post-primary centre and the child was eligible for school bus transport, finding out that another school was deemed less than a quarter of a kilometre nearer and no school bus transport was available,” Cllr Charity explained.

In recent weeks Fianna Fail’s Deputy Anne Rabbitte has been meeting with schools’ boards of management with regard to bus routes and the service provided. She was worried about the review of the School Transport Scheme.

“Since the announcement of this review, parents have been contacting me anxious that their children may lose their seat on the school bus.

“Many have been left in the dark about the situation and they’ve become increasingly worried that their kids may lose their place on the bus come the end of this month.

“This scheme is an essential part of school life in rural communities across Galway, and the uncertainty that has been allowed build up over the past few months has been a major source of stress for students and parents alike,” Deputy Rabbitte said.

The FF TD said that the threat of going public with individual cases was having a sobering effect on the Department of Education and some progress was being made.