‘Crisis situation’ with school transport system

Elected members on Cavan County Council have reacted angrily to correspondence from Education Minister, Norma Foley's office on school transport.

Councillors had previously written to the Department requesting an overhaul of the current system and were frustrated at the Minister's response on the issue.

The response, highlighted at the local authority's July meeting, stated that a pilot expansion scheme would be introduced in September and, if successful, will continue on a “phased basis” thereafter.

Cllr Clifford Kelly (FF) was the first to highlight his concerns over school transport in Co Cavan.

“The response states that it’s being reviewed and will be a service that will support children and their families; there’s talk about expansion but the bottom line is that there is a crisis in the whole school transport system and there are children who can’t access it,” he continued.

“This is a crisis situation and I propose writing back to the Department to point out all of these facts to them again.”

Aontu's Sarah O’Reilly told those gathered that parents and children are facing into the same “issues” that happen every September “because the Department is not working fast enough on this".

Cllr Brendan Fay (Ind) then highlighted how the school transport system should be reviewed and evaluated during the months of June and July, not in September when children are returning to school.

Fine Gael's T.P. O’Reilly added:

“This needs to get resolved once and for all. We need to write back to the Department and ask for something more concrete on this.”

Members agreed to furnish a letter to the Department as part of a concerted effort to “sort out” the school transport system once and for all.