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LAST UPDATE
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\n 10 hrs ago\n <\/p>\n
MANY CHILDREN ARE about to begin the new school year but cannot get a place on the school bus because the school they are attending is too far away from home.<\/p>\n
The school transport scheme, operated by Bus \u00c9ireann on behalf of the Department of Education, requires a child to attend their nearest school, with the exception of post-primary students if they have religious or language preferences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But if their nearest school is full, many families are forced to send their children to schools further away. This means they cannot secure a place for their children on the school bus.<\/p>\n
With many families in limbo, there are calls for the Department of Education to change the policy.<\/p>\n
Katherine Creane told\u00a0The Journal\u00a0that an estimated 30 to 50 children were affected in the east Galway city area, and that finding alternative transport options to the Col\u00e1iste Bhaile Chl\u00e1ir school is very expensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to transport ourselves or pay a private bus provider \u20ac35 to \u20ac40 per child per week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis adds up to a yearly bill for families of \u20ac1300 to \u20ac1400 per child as opposed to the public school bus transport capped at \u20ac200 for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exacerbated by lack of city bus transport routes in the area\u2026 and adds to local traffic congestion and is very stressful for parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caroline O\u2019Laochdha, from Clarinbridge in Galway, told RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2032s This Week that her family is in a \u201cbit of a predicament\u201d at the moment.<\/p>\n
Her son Rian\u00a0applied for a place on the school transport scheme but in July they were told that they would not get a place on the bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s on the basis that we are closer to the school as the crow flies to\u00a0Calasanctius College in Oranmore,\u201d she told RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2032s This Week.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re in a little bit of a predicament at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Laochdha said the family did not apply to the Oranmore school because of oversubscription and its feeder-school admissions policy \u2013 where students are typically sent to a specific next-level school after graduating.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have two younger kids that we have to drive to a country school and then we have to bring them to Athenry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both working full-time and we\u2019ve also got the care of an elderly parent who\u2019s living with us full-time with dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least 30 children and their families are affected in Clarinbridge alone, according to RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n
In response to the concerns raised in Clarinbridge, Bus \u00c9ireann told RT\u00c9 that over 130,000 tickets have already been issued for the 2026\/27 school year.<\/p>\n
It said that further tickets will be allocated in the coming weeks, with a selection process used if demand exceeds spare capacity.<\/p>\n
The Department of Education told RT\u00c9 that Bus \u00c9ireann operates the scheme.<\/p>\n
It appears that the problem is not confined to Galway and could be widespread. Aont\u00fa councillor Emer T\u00f3ib\u00edn told RT\u00c9 she has been contacted by more than 80 parents in Navan, Co Meath, about school transport problems ahead of the new academic year.<\/p>\n
Speaking on RT\u00c9 1\u2032s This Week today,\u00a0Minister of State at the Department of Education Michael Moynihan said that the scheme is \u201chugely important to parents and to families\u201d and the department will need to make an \u201cinformed decision\u201d about any changes that are made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have put in the admission policy in a number of pilots, but we\u2019ve also rolled out\u2026 26 pilot schemes over the last two years to look at this policy, and those pilot schemes are due to report during September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really have to make an informed decision. And those informed decisions will be based on the review of the pilot, the 26 pilot schemes that are across the country at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what parents should do if their nearest school is full and their children are denied a place on the bus, Moynihan said \u201cthat information has to be sent to the department to be assessed\u201d.<\/p>\n
In 2025, more than 181,000 children and young people availed of the scheme, an increase of 50% since 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A review in 2024 recommended expanding access to an additional 100,000 students by 2030 and removing the requirement to attend the nearest school.<\/p>\n
Those changes are being introduced on a phased basis through pilots across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAST UPDATE | 10 hrs ago MANY CHILDREN ARE about to begin the new school year but cannot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,17208,13264,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,162765,5,271139,271140,76155,4172,7,8],"class_list":["post-641244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-bus-eireann","tag-department-of-education","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-michael-moynihan","tag-news","tag-no-room-on-the-bus","tag-school-bus","tag-school-children","tag-schools","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117109166231241693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}