No room on the bus for young Stackallen pupil
A CHILD who was allowed to travel on a school bus to Stackallen National School for five weeks was then refused a seat on the bus by Bus Eireann, causing an angry reaction in the locality.
Stackallen NS principal, Jim Hoey, said that there have been several cases of students being denied transport because they are `ineligible` and spoke of cases where students were sometimes just metres outside the catchment area and were denied school transport, while their next-door neighbours were brought to school on the bus.
Now Senator Dominic Hannigan has written to Transport Minister Noel Dempsey seeking an extra bus for Stackallen National School.
The boy in question was brought to school on the bus for five weeks but was then refused a place because he lived outside the school`s catchment area. "There has been no proper explanation of why the child was allowed on the bus for five weeks and then refused a place," said Senator Hannigan, who pointed out that the bus passed by the child`s house every morning.
"At present, there are two Bus Eireann buses serving the school and I have asked the minister to look into providing a third bus, as I have been informed that there are other children in the area who would avail of a bus," he said.
"Their parents now have to drive their children to school, adding to the traffic on the roads and the major congestion outside the school in the morning," he added.
Mr Hoey said that there were several cases of students being refused school bus places and a farcical situation existed where some children can travel on the bus and close neighbours cannot. "There have been inspectors saying that someone was 10 metres outside the area," he said.
The school principal said there was a case where one pupil was denied a place, but his childminder`s children, who lived just up the road, were brought to school on the bus.
"The childminder`s children go home on the bus, while the mother drives her child from the school to the childminder`s house," he added. Mr Hoey said he cannot see why Bus Eireann won`t put on another bus to cater for those who want to use public transport to get to school.
A spokesperson for Bus Eireann said that children from the catchment area were entitled to free transport to school, but students from outside are offered places on a first-come, first-served basis after that and must pay a fee.
She said that the child who had been travelling on the bus for five weeks hadn`t actually been allocated a place. "His parents had paid, but a ticket hadn`t issued and when it was discovered he was ineligible, the fee was refunded," she said.
She said that seats were only allocated to children from outside the catchment area if there were spare seats on the bus.
