McEntee wants all school transport timelines brought forward next year

Education Minister, Helen McEntee wants to see all of the timelines come forward for school transport next year.

Following the news that schoolchildren have been eft stranded without school buses because of of drivers or contractors, the Minister said she wanted everything to happen earlier.

"There's no point in people getting tickets and problems arising a week before they go back to school. I want to see people applying, I want to see people getting their payments paid, I want to see them getting their tickets issued, and I want to see all of the contracts and tendering happening much earlier, so when issues arise, we can resolve it quickly. That's my objective for next year.

"I suppose the challenge every year is that we're increasing the number of students who are getting bus tickets, so we need to make sure we have the drivers and the buses and the companies to deal with that.

"There's been a scenario where there are children who have gotten their tickets but through no fault of a lot of people, there haven't been companies applying for tenders. For unforeseen circumstances people have had to pull out, companies and drivers.

"The department is working very closely with Bus Eireann, who provide about 90 per cent of the school transport to try and get these issues resolved quickly. So every single day, different areas, different routes, different individuals, are getting their issues resolved.

"I appreciate this year, the parents are in a difficult position. My focus at the moment and priority working with Minister Moynihan whose responsibility in the department is to get this done as quickly as possible, if we need to issue new tenders, that's exactly what we're doing."

The Ministers comments come as a group of more than 16 Meath children have been stranded without a school bus service in the Moynalvey area.

Families in the area were shocked to discover the school bus to Scoil Ui Riada in Kilcock, that their children are entitled to, is not running and Bus Eireann says it is due to lack of a driver or contractor.

Earlier this week, there were 91 students from the Moynalvey area without school transport, but buses have now been provided for students attending Moynalvey National School and Scoil Dara In Kilcock.

Colleen Gallagher, a mother to three children said she lives approximately 8km from , Scoil Ui Riada in Kilcock.

"My two eldest children are going into 4th and 1st class, My third child is due to start her primary school education in September 2026. We have been availing of the school transport with Bus Eireann for the previous five years, this will be our sixth school year. This bus service is essential to us and it is a lifeline due to my husband's and my work commitments. We are the first stop on that route, getting collected and dropped from the back of Hattons."

"They received their bus tickets approximately three to four weeks ago for the upcoming school year, but on the 21st of August, Colleen received an email from Bus Eireann " we've had trouble setting up transport on some routes, including yours. This is mostly because a number of difficulties have arisen in some localities with a small number of contracted services, including the service intended for your children. These difficulties have arisen in some cases due to lack of driver or contractor availability".

There are 16 children who get on the school bus at Colleen's children's stop which is the first stop on the route. "Then it collects up to 20 more children along the way mainly in RyeBridge, Kilcock. We are now in a position one week into the school year and still no service, something we heavily rely on and no update from Bus Eireann despite repeated emails and phonecalls.

"This leaves us as a family and a community in a very difficult position. We reside in a rural part of the community and rely on the school bus for a number of reasons, My children are on the bus five days a week to and from School. Both my husband and I work full time and this school transport enables us to work.

"The absence of this service put us in a very difficult position so much so that the only option may be for me to resign from my job to ensure my children can get to school - a job I have been in for 19 years.

"We as parents have chosen for our children to be educated through Irish and a contributing factor to this was the school transport. Bus Eireann are obliged to transport our children to the nearest Gaelscoil - they are failing to do this year. We are now at a loss that this has been pulled and quite frankly it seems like Bus Eireann or the Minister of Education don't care about our situation," she said.

A spokesperson for Bus Éireann said the company had issued over 145,000 tickets to date to mainstream services for 2025/26 school year, an increase of just under five per cent 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," he said.