Nolan: Offaly children to wait till mid-October for school bus tickets

Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan has said it is “almost beyond belief” that parents from Offaly are still having to contact her office for assistance in accessing seats on the school bus servicing their local schools.

Deputy Nolan went on to say that several of the parents who have contacted her have also expressed how they felt “belittled by Bus Éireann” when they contacted the company to try and have the issues affecting their children resolved:

“I am increasingly concerned at the unhelpful attitude being conveyed to parents who are in genuine distress at the ongoing lack of access to school transport for their children,” said Deputy Nolan.

“This is a company we should recall that is paid to operate the School Transport Scheme that cost €382m last year.

“The parents contacting my office simply cannot understand how it can take up to eight weeks to verify their application, especially at this late stage when the vast majority of the seats have been allocated and in particular when the bus that stops on their road has empty seats.

“Instead, they are being told it could be mid-October before their issue is resolved.

“This is not rocket science. If there are empty seats on the school bus, then a provisional allocation should be made while the application from the parents is being processed until such time as the allocation becomes permanent.

“This year must be the final stop on the school transport fiasco tour,” concluded Deputy Nolan.