Wicklow school transport failures
Deputy Whitmore raised missing school transport routes in Wicklow, including for children with complex needs and in direct provision, and criticised Bus Éireann communication. The Minister said many children were carried daily, acknowledged some failures and driver shortages, and said Bus Éireann was working through the problems.
Children have been back in school for seven weeks and, in my county of Wicklow, there are still seven routes that are not operating under the school transport scheme. Two of those routes are for children with additional and complex needs and another is for children in direct provision. The areas impacted are Ashford, Laragh, Roundwood, Arklow and Delgany. This is unacceptable. Every year, this happens in Wicklow, in particular. The dedicated call centre that was set up by Bus Éireann has been closed and the communication by the company with parents is pretty much non-existent. Those parents are now at breaking point. They feel as if they have been forgotten and, unfortunately, as I said, this happens year in, year out. They end up trying to juggle work and getting their children to school. I would be interested to hear if the Minister, who has responsibility for rural communities, has concerns about the failure to provide this most basic public service in our rural communities. What is the Minister for Education going to do to resolve this?
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It is important to put matters into context. Some 140,000 children are carried to school every day on a bus provided by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education.
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I am worried about the children who are not on those buses.
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I know about such children because there are some in my own constituency. There are still a few children for whom a bus has not been provided. Things happen. Unfortunately, we are in a very tight labour market and it is hard to find bus drivers. There is no doubt about that. To give the Deputy an example, one bus driver broke his ankle and could not drive the bus and nobody could be found to replace him. Unfortunately, the parents had to bring their children to school. Bus Éireann, in fairness to it, is working its way through the issues and engaging with the contractors. It is trying to move matters on as quickly as possible. I will bring the issue to the attention of the Minister. I have done so myself. The Minister is doing her best.