School transport saga being used as a “political football”

IT has been claimed that some families caught up in the school bus transport saga in Sligo have been used as a political football and that there is a lack of integrity in how some “vulnerable families” have been “used” in the campaign to highlight the issues.

Cllr Thomas Walsh said there has been a lack of integrity in how the issue has been dealt with and how “vulnerable families” have “been used” in recent days.

He told members of Sligo County Council that Bus Éireann were forced to place a message on their own messaging system asking callers not to abuse their staff.

He said it “was very disappointing that vulnerable families and people who are very concerned at this time have been used as a political football over the past number of days. I don’t think it is good enough.

It lacks any bit of integrity that we use vulnerable people in such a way that they have been used in recent days.

“The scheme is devised to support children of families going to local schools, that’s how the scheme was given cross party support back in 2011 and in 2016,” he said.

Cllr Walsh stated that €289m, 6,000 buses and taxis, 122,000 pupils were involved in receiving the transport for which Bus Éireann should get some credit: “While we are dealing with a very small margin of people who we are working with under the appeal process to get them seats, I think the Bus Éireann staff deserve a huge amount of credit as they are working around the clock at the moment.

“It is very disappointing they [Bus Éireann] have to put a message on their own messaging system to alert people not to abuse the staff.” Proposing his motion, on one of four before Sligo County Council asking for action to help resolve the many issues which have seen some students denied tickets to travel free on school buses, Cllr Walsh said that while the Government acted in good faith by allocating free transport, there was an issue with the system’s ability to cope with the demand from parents.

He said however, that a lot of people had been misinformed about the scheme. The scheme was designed to support local schools and to support children going to local schools. “While we have heard some rhetoric on local radio over the past number of weeks by one particular member of the chamber [Cllr Thomas Healy] who seems to be absent, the ethos of the scheme is to support local schools.

Later in the meeting Cllr Declan Bree said it was not the custom to reference councillors who were not present at the meeting.

Cllr Bree, referencing Cllr Walsh’s comments about the absent Cllr Thomas Healy, said the cathaoirleach should “remind the meeting that it is the custom not to make reference to a member who is not in the chamber”.

Earlier, Cllr Walsh had praised the efforts by Bus Éireann to address the issues that had arisen: “Bus Éireann has made huge inroads into the list [of applicants for transport] in the past number of days.

Many of the people who were turned down initially have appealed that and have been successful in securing a place.

“I am aware Bus Éireann is looking for additional drivers and doing their utmost to ensure people have school transport as soon as possible,” he said.

Cllr Walsh said they did not want to see another situation which he likened to the one in St Mary’s in Ballisodare where a school “almost closed”. He said it was important they supported local schools and it was important there was a mechanism to support local schools. He said we must be supporting local schools, otherwise we will have a number of huge schools and the smaller rural schools will close, so “we have to be careful what we want,” he said.

Cllr Marie Casserly, proposing a similar motion, one of four in relation to the student transport issue dealt with at Monday’s meeting, said she wanted a review into the school bus system and to engage stakeholders in devising a new, better, more economical functioning system which has not been updated since the 1980s.

She said one of the major issues with the system was the timeframe in which applicants were told they had not got a bus ticket. The notification, either way, needs to be conveyed much earlier in the summer rather than on the days as students are about to go back to school. “None of us should be turning it into a political football and using vulnerable families,” she said, adding that some of the delays in bringing in additional buses and drivers were related to due process and the need to ensure that all new drivers were Garda vetted - “this takes time and is vitally important when you are dealing with children,” she added.

She said the message needs to get out that the system is intended for the families who are most vulnerable and most in need.

Cllr Gerard Mullaney said the issue arose “to a smaller degree” every year. One of the problems is that the system for the allocation of tickets takes place too close to the start of the academic year.

“It needs to be got sorted earlier in the summer. While the initiative [for free transport] was good, the necessary infrastructure was not put in place. Part of the review must look at getting this whole process done earlier in the year,” he said.

Cllr Paul Taylor said it was a serious issue for parents and children who don’t have tickets.

“There are two categories, eligible and concessionary and the department is looking for drivers. But, this scheme has been in place for a very long time and while I agree children have the right to go to whatever school they wish to go to, but, if you are doing that you run the risk of not getting a bus ticket, but you have the right to do that.

“I support what Cllr Walsh said about supporting local schools, but there are some schools doing different subjects that are not at their nearest school, hence the desire to go to those schools,” he said. He added that there needs to be consistency for children who get a ticket in the first place.

“If a child gets a concessionary ticket in First year, then they should automatically have that right through to Sixth year,” he said. It allows parents to make provision for the six years, he added.

Cllr Darragh Mulvey, defending Bus Éireann, said they were dealing with the applicants on a case-by-case basis, adding “you just can’t magic buses out of the air, there is a process. The timing is wrong, parents need to know much sooner what the situation is”.

He said he supported Cllrs Walsh and Casserly comments in relation to not making a political football out of the issue.

Cllr Tom Fox agreed with earlier comments, and in particular that the timing to allow applications to be streamlined needs to be addressed. Cllr Donal Gilroy said where he lives the second nearest school to Grange VS is Ballinode, which is 18kms away, the Ursuline is 19km, Summerhill is 20km and many go to Bundoran, which is 23km away. “They are trying to make changes and to fix something that has never worked perfectly for everybody,” he said.

He added that the idea of giving free transport to people to whatever school they want to go to will not work and would result in the closure of schools - adding that in his Sligo/ Drumcliffe Municipal District two schools would be in danger of closure if free transport to any school anywhere was in vogue.

“We would end up with a 2,000pupil school in Sligo town and the smaller schools would close, but we need the diversity these smaller schools bring,” he said.

Cllr Declan Bree, referencing Cllr Walsh’s comments about the absent Cllr Thomas Healy, said the cathaoirleach should “remind the meeting that it is the custom not to make reference to a member who is not in the chamber”.

On the transport scheme, it may have been well meant, but in reality, it has caused mayhem and chaos for quite a number of school students and their families.

Cathaoirleach Michael Clarke said if the Government were serious about “the green agenda” they needed to provide more buses and more bus places for students rather than seeing a carpark with 40 cars pulling up to it.

“People are giving 56 to 70 euro to have children brought to school, sure it’s cheaper to bring the car, crazy stuff,” he said.

Cllr Joe Queenan said he wished to support the motion and agreed with the analysis offered by Cllr Bree.

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