Bus \u00c9ireann and the Department of Education must immediately outline how many pupils will be affected by the last-minute cancellation of bus services due to operate next week under the School Transport Scheme, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on transport, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith only days to go before the start of the new term, it is completely unacceptable that parents \u2013 including in my own Wicklow constituency \u2013 have just received emails from Bus \u00c9ireann to say no transport arrangements are yet in place for their child\u2019s school route next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is despite the fact that these children were eligible to apply for the School Transport Scheme and had already been issued with tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to Bus \u00c9ireann, which operates the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education, difficulties have arisen on a number of routes due to the lack of an available driver or contractor. In some cases, the company said zero bids were received for a service, despite repeated efforts to procure one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a problem that occurs every year and it is disgraceful that families are yet again being left high and dry. As a result of receiving such late notice, parents will be scrambling to make alternative arrangements for getting their children to and from school next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, we need to see the rollout of a nationwide school bus programme so that every student who needs transport can get it. This would ease\u00a0cost-of-living pressures on families\u00a0and help us meet our climate action targets by reducing the number of cars on our roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor now, however, we need clarity from Bus \u00c9ireann and the Department of Education on which routes have been impacted, the number of students affected, and a realistic timescale for resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
August 22, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bus \u00c9ireann and the Department of Education must immediately outline how many pupils will be affected by the last-minute cancellation of bus services due to operate next week under the School Transport Scheme, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on transport, said: \u201cWith only days to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,268,7,547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release","category-transport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n