Geashill pupil given ticket but no bus to Athlone special school

A Geashill resident this week wrote an open email to the president and several government ministers to protest the ongoing lack of public transport to school for her son with special needs.

In her email on Monday, September 24, Rosie Farren also copied in several local and regional media outlets to further highlight the issue.

Rosie's email said: “I am reaching out for your support regarding a distressing issue affecting my family and many others, specifically relating to my son, Jack, who has special needs and attends St Hilda’s Special School in Athlone.

In the email she highlighted how she had contacted Bus Éireann regarding ongoing transportation issues we are facing for my son. "Unfortunately, we have received no update on this matter, and the lack of communication is causing significant distress.”

In speaking with the Offaly Independent, Rosie said Jack, who is 14 years old, had joined the post-primary classes at St Hilda's on August 28. He had been issued a bus ticket by Bus Éireann for transport to the school, but as yet no actual bus was provided for their route.

This is despite the fact that there are other families and children attending St Hilda's along the same route who could also use the bus, she said.

There had been a bus on this route before, which Rosie said “is an exciting feature for children with special needs. It's hard to explain to them why the bus is gone.”

As a result, some families are now dealing with behavioural problems as well.

Rosie said because there is no bus, “we are now forced to make daily trips to and from Athlone”.

In addition, Jack “only gets about three and a half hours in school, because we first take our other son to school in Geashill before driving to Athlone, and there is a very short timeframe before we have to go back to collect Jack in time to be able to collect our other son. It's about 200 kilometres every day. We are also quite restricted, as we can't go too far during the day.”

Rosie said St Hilda's is a lovely school, with a great environment that Jack loves going to, but he is missing out due to his shortened day there.

She added that they were lucky to find a place in a school for Jack, and that they relocated from Kerry, where she had lived for 20 years, to get the place.

“Other parents find themselves in a heartbreaking situation without a place. They end up with one child at home seeing the other child going to school.”

She said some parents have to quit their job in this situation. Rosie is still working in Kerry, and has to make the roundtrip to her job when possible.

A recent report by Ombudsman for Children's Office highlighted the “scramble every September to find appropriate school places for children with Special Educational Needs".

“Department of Education figures provided to the OCO on September 2nd show 126 children with SEN are currently without a school place this September," the report, Plan for Places: Two Year Update 2024, said.

“As we now begin another school year with reassurances from the Department that every child with SEN known to them has a school place, we also need to be confident that that place is appropriate for the child and is in their local area.”

The report warned that the Department is not collecting data or monitoring the appropriateness of placements.

“This can result in children with SEN becoming invisible to the system once a place is secured, regardless of the placement’s appropriateness, the challenges associated with the school setting, or its distance from their locality, which is often considerable.

In the 2023-24 school year, more than 19,800 students with SEN required use of the School Transport Scheme to attend their school placement.”

In relation to Jack's situation, Rosie said that Bus Éireann should have a framework in place for transportation for special needs education facilities, which should be planned well in advance.

She added that the problem with access to special needs education is being experienced by families right across the country, and is a significant issue that needs to be addressed.