Thirteen secondary students from rural Tipperary community turned down for school bus tickets, says local councillor 

Thirteen secondary students from Newcastle have been turned down for school bus tickets to Cahir as political pressure mounts on the Government to increase funding of the School Transport Scheme. 

Local councillor Mairin McGrath said the Colaiste Dun Iascaigh students from Newcastle village and its rural environs have been refused school bus tickets because they are deemed to be geographically closer to Clonmel. 

She points out the differences in the distances they live from Cahir and Clonmel are "miniscule" while Newcastle National School has always been regarded as a "feeder" school for Colaiste Dun Iascaigh. 

The Independent councillor said she has been in contact with Bus Éireann on a daily basis to lobby on behalf of these students but its "hands are tied" by the regulations of the School Public Transport Scheme. 

Representations have also been made to Minister of State with responsibility for school transport John Halligan. 

"In fairness to John Halligan, he has said he would allocate the extra money to fix the problem but it's up to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe's department to provide the funding. Minister Donohoe doesn't really understand the urgency and need of parents to avail of school bus services."

 "All these parents have no other choice but to get into their cars every morning and travel on the same route the school bus takes because there is no space on the buses for their children. " 

Newcastle isn't the only area where Cllr McGrath has come across shortages in school bus places. Students in Burncourt and Skeheenarinky attending secondary schools in Mitchelstown have failed to get bus tickets because they are deemed to be slightly closer to Cahir. 

She has also received representations  from families from Grange, Goatenbridge, Aherlow and New Inn, whose children haven't secured school bus transport for this September. 

Cllr McGrath said the shortage of school bus places was putting parents and students under undue stress and anxiety just a week before the schools re-open. 

“We need the Minister for Education and his Department to once and for all stop the yearly panic for parents and pupils looking for school transport. It shows a total inability to take changing demographics into account and plan for increasing school numbers. Every year this problem comes around and every year the government fail to adequately serve rural students.” Cllr. McGrath added. 

Her  comments come as the Fitzgerald family from New Inn highlighted their plight over school bus tickets this week.  

One of their children, eight year-old Ryan, has been granted a a place on a school bus because New Inn Boys School is 3.3km from their home, which is further than the minimum 3.2km  distance needed to qualify for a bus plae. However, his younger siblings Richard (6) and Kate (4) have been refused a school bus ticket because New Inn Girls School is just 2.9km from the family's home.  

Speaking to the Irish Independent, their mother Noreen said the family didn't yet know how they were going to handle school pick ups that take place at different times in the afternoon. Both Noreen and her husband Patrick work full-time. 

 Fine Gael general election candidate Mary Newman Julian, who highlighted their case in The Nationalist last week, said it showed the inflexibility of the system. She has repeatedly called for the School Public Transport Scheme to be reviewed and for more investment in increasing school bus places.