Around 15 school children from the Emo and Vicarstown are currently in limbo without school bus places as the school year approaches.
A public meeting held on Wednesday night in Vicarstown was attended by families who have been told that their children have not been granted a school bus place.
In some cases, a student could be just 200 metres to a school rather than their chosen one, and so can be ruled out for school bus transport.
Cllr Tom Mulhall previously wrote to Minister of State John Halligan who has responsibility for the bus transport service, to raise the issue.
Appeal
“I did recommend to parents to appeal the decision as there are options to appeal on the distance issue,” he said.
Emo and Vicarstown are two of the areas in Laois worst affected by unavailability of school bus places each year, Cllr Mulhall said.
He said as schoolchildren from this area can opt to go to secondary schools in Mountmellick, Portarlington, Monasterevin and Athy, it is always a fraught process.
Cllr Mulhall said he knows of incidences where older children go to a school in Portlaoise, only for the next child to be recommended to go elsewhere if they want a school bus place. “There mightn’t even be a vacancy in that school,” he said.
There have also been circumstances where a student has been attending a school for four years, only to be told to go to another school if they wish to have a school bus place.
“There are new schools being built in Portlaoise and could be looking for students, so why not provide a bus service?” he said.
A 32-seater bus is being made available for students in the wider Emo and Vicarstown area. Cllr Mulhall said a 50-seater bus would solve the problem for everyone.
“The changes to the school bus service were brought in in 2008 at a time when recession was hitting. But we are in 2017 now and things are reasonably back on track. Children are our future and it is not right to deprive them of school transport,” Cllr Mulhall said.
A delegation, including local elected representatives, is to meet with Minister Halligan soon in an attempt to resolve the situation.
“I have seen this coming and made representations on this early,” Cllr Tom Mulhall said.
He said the issue should be resolved, especially as people have applied for a place months ago, and paid for a bus place by July 28.
Concessionary
Cllr Mulhall has called to an end of the concessionary system whereby students are provided with a school bus place if the route has spare capacity.
“We should forget about the concessionary system. Anyone who applied for a school bus place should be eligible,” he said.
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