CALL FOR ‘PROPER AND MEANINGFUL’ CATCHMENT AREAS
‘MEANINGFUL and proper catchment areas’ need to be introduced in order to resolve the problem concerning school transport according to Councillor Lisa McDonald.
Lisa, who has been campaigning over the difficulty to secure school places in Wexford, said that she has been speaking with several worried parents whose children have not been allocated a seat on the school bus. She said that this problem is directly linked to the fact that many students are being forced to attend school outside of their locality due to a lack of places.
‘If the government was to introduce meaningful and proper catchment areas, it would solve this problem,’ she said. ‘An awful lot of people want to send their children to schools in Wexford but they are being forced to send them to schools further afield.’
While Lisa believes that parents should have the choice on whether they send their child to school locally or elsewhere, she said that those residing within the vicinity of a school should get ‘first choice’ when it comes to school places, regardless of parental links.
In the meantime, she said that those who are being forced to travel outside of their area to attend school should have their transport funded by the government.
‘ The TDs in the county need to get meeting with the Minister and Department and fund the buses for children who, through no fault of their own, are being forced to attend school outside of their area,’ she said.
‘ To use a pun, Minister Bruton has missed the bus,’ she said. ‘ There are no plans or joined up thinking in relation to this. If he wants to put his mark down, he should go and do what is right.’