Rathvilly school bus capacity
Deputy Murnane O'Connor says children in Carlow are being refused school bus places and asks for a larger bus on the Rathvilly route. The Tánaiste says he will speak to the Education Minister and Bus Éireann, noting possible ticket misuse.
I have so many families around the county of Carlow whose children were refused places on the local school bus. For example, Bus Éireann has a private operator in Rathvilly, which is a small rural part of Carlow, but one of the buses is a 24-seater. I have asked for a bigger bus, a 52-seater, which would sort out a huge issue in that area. This bus goes from Rathvilly to Tullow Community School. I am engaging with Bus Éireann on a weekly basis. We are back now. It is the fifth week back in the school term and I am being told there are empty seats on buses. Bus Éireann is telling me that no one has returned their tickets. There are so many children looking for school places this year. I have never seen anything like it. We need to have commonsense, get more buses and bigger buses. It would solve a lot of issues.
Comment on this
First, I will talk to the Minister for Education in respect of this specific issue. I am surprised that Bus Éireann has not conceded yet. Given that Deputy Murnane-O'Connor is in weekly engagement with them, I would have thought-----
Comment on this
-----that, given the manner in which she approaches these agencies with her tenacity, they would have caved in by now. Anyhow, in a serious vein, it is a serious issue. I think there is an issue with some people getting tickets but not using them and then taking up seats that other people would use. We need to resolve that. I will talk to the Minister to see what we can do.