‘To be left stranded at the last minute is devastating’... Mum who battled to get school place for son with autism shattered after school bus cancelled
The mother of a 12-year-old boy with special needs from Trim says she has been left “angry and devastated” after being told at the last minute that the school bus meant to carry her son to his very first day in secondary school has been scrapped.
Elaine Doonan’s son Harry, who has Autism and is non-verbal, was due to begin at St Patrick’s Classical School in Navan this week. But with just days to go, an email from Bus Éireann pulled the plug on the service, plunging the family into chaos and threatening to undo months of careful preparation for Harry’s big step forward.
Elaine says the news is a crushing blow after a battle spanning years to secure Harry a school place at all with at least 16 schools from Mullingar to Maynooth to Celbridge rejecting him on the grounds they couldn’t cater for his additional needs.
“We had finally got him settled on the idea, talking him through each stage, showing him visuals of the bus,” said Elaine.
“Now we have to tell him it’s not happening and for a child like Harry, that’s devastating. Routine and consistency are everything.”
But the fallout doesn’t stop there. Elaine herself drives a school bus for children with additional needs from Trim to Longwood. If she has to give up that job to transport Harry herself, other local vulnerable families will also be left without a way to get their children to school.
And the Doonans’ daily juggle is already intense, Elaine has another son, aged 10, also with Autism, and a two-year-old who must be ferried to creche in Athboy because there are no local places in Trim.
“We are just at rock bottom,” she said. “It’s exhausting having to fight for every single thing.”
The case comes as dozens of families across Meath report being blindsided by last-minute school bus unavailability despite having received tickets and route confirmations.
Bus Éireann has blamed the fiasco on a shortage of drivers and contractors, insisting routes are “delayed, not cancelled” but for families like the Doonans, those assurances are cold comfort.
In Ballivor, parents say they feel “angry, betrayed and abandoned” after tickets to Coláiste Clavin in Longwood confirmed and even delivered by post were suddenly worthless in a flurry of last-minute emails.
For working households in Ballivor, where there is no secondary school and no public transport, the cancellation has been nothing short of catastrophic.
Karen Smith, whose son is starting 3rd Year, said: “I applied and paid for a ticket back in March. We got the confirmation, the ticket arrived just last week. Then this evening, another email, no bus after all. I couldn’t believe it.”
Both Karen and her husband commute long distances.
“We absolutely depend on that bus. There are no CIE buses, no taxis, nothing else. My husband’s taking Monday off to bring him, I’ll take Tuesday. After that, I don’t know what we’ll do. To give families one working day’s notice is an absolute joke.”
Others are equally furious. Niamh Fisher lost her daughter’s seat entirely after updating her address by a mere three minutes’ drive.
Veronica Greene fears her daughter’s Leaving Cert Applied could be compromised by missed attendance.
And Claire O’Mara says 1st Years have been left nervous and stranded at the very start of their secondary school journey.
Parents have been offered a so-called “Exceptional No Service Interim Grant” reimbursement for mileage costs, but only after the service begins and attendance records are confirmed. One mother described it as “no good to us. We need a bus, not a grant months later.”
Social media groups in Ballivor are now filled with frantic parents arranging carpools. But they say lift-shares are no substitute for the guaranteed, supervised school bus service they paid for.
As Karen Smith put it bluntly: “We pay, we get the tickets, then they rip them away. Families can’t live like this. Our kids deserve better.”
Meanwhile, in Kentstown, panic erupted after families were informed overnight (21st August) that no buses would run from the village to Coláiste na Mí “for the foreseeable future.”
The decision could leave as many as 70 students stranded.
Local mother Eileen Costello Rawat has two children in Coláiste na Mí and described the shock.
“They’ve been getting the bus from Kentstown since they started school. Tickets arrived by post in the first week of August then last night, we heard it’s not going ahead.”
The email said no contractor could be sourced. To make matters worse, not every family even received the cancellation notice.
Eileen herself only found out through neighbours. “As a household with two parents working full-time, living in a rural community, we are entirely dependent on the school bus,” she said.
“Now we’ve no idea how we’ll manage. The knock-on will be gridlock in Navan. The Johnstown Education Campus already suffers chronic congestion, and now hundreds more cars will be on the road.”
From Trim to Ballivor to Kentstown, families across Meath describe the same pattern, months of planning, tickets paid and issued, only for last-minute emails to pull the rug from under them.
Working parents are scrambling shifts, children with additional needs face devastating disruption, and teenagers preparing for exams are suddenly without reliable transport.
Parents say the chaos has shattered their trust in the system. Some have already vowed to lobby together and organise, but the sense of frustration is overwhelming.
As one furious Ballivor mother put it: “The lack of consideration for the impact on families is shocking, and it is causing unnecessary stress. I honestly don’t know how we are going to manage this.”
And as Elaine Doonan summed it up: “We’ve battled so hard to get our children places in schools. To be left stranded at the last minute is soul-destroying. It feels like we’re always fighting and right now, we’re at rock bottom.”
What should have been a week of excitement and fresh starts has instead turned into a nightmare of panicked phone calls, lift-share WhatsApp groups, and desperate contingency plans.
Communities that depend on the school bus network feel let down, strung along, and abandoned.
The message from Meath families is loud and clear, enough is enough.
Until buses are on the road and children are in their seats, this story won’t go away and the anger is only growing louder.
Department of Education Statement
A SPOKESPERSON for the Department of Education and Youth said it was aware that a small number of school transport services are delayed this month, even though tickets were issued and stressed that these services "have not been cancelled."
"Bus Éireann, which runs the scheme, has advised that some school bus routes can’t start due to a lack of contractors or drivers or appropriately sized vehicles. In some areas, contractors pulled out or there were no bids received through the procurement process.
"Where this has happened, students may have tickets but no bus service. Bus Éireann is working to find replacements, and tickets will still be valid once services restart. Affected families have been contacted and will get updates.
"The department understands the disruption this causes for families and is working with Bus Éireann to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Families may be eligible for a temporary grant if no service is available.
"The department remains committed to providing transport for all eligible students and is expanding the scheme each year.
"Where a service cannot be provided immediately, the following interim grants may apply for eligible pupils on either mainstream or SEN service:
- Exceptional No Service Interim Grant – Payable by the Department where a pupil on mainstream has been issued a ticket but transport is not in place at the start of the school year due to operational difficulties. The grant is based on the number of days the child attends school. Families do not need to apply; they will be contacted directly by the Department’s School Transport Section.
- Special Transport Interim Grant – This grant assists with the cost of private transport arrangements put in place by families until a contracted service is operational.
The grant is based on actual school attendance and is offered from the date of application. School Transport Section will be in contact with all the families concerned.
Bus Eireann Statement
Bus Éireann operates the school transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth.
The purpose of the scheme is to provide transport for children living remotely from their nearest school. Bus Éireann has issued over 142,000 tickets to date to mainstream services for 2025/26 school year, an increase of just under 4% of tickets issued compared to last year.
The scheme operates in excess of 8,200 vehicles daily on over 10,600 routes. The situation is evolving on a daily basis.
Our local school transport office is trying to prioritise sourcing replacement cover for these routes.
As soon as a vehicle and driver has been sourced, and vehicle and driver compliance checks completed the families will be contacted directly in relation to the re-commencement of their service.
Please note that the service is not cancelled and all tickets issued remain valid for travel. Where a service is not in place for the start of a new school year, an interim grant is available. Families do not need to make an application; the Department of Education and Youth will be contacting families directly.
Full details are available on the Department of Education and Youth’s website www.gov.ie/schooltransport