Many students cannot avail of buses to new school

Many students living in the catchment area of Colaiste na hInse in Laytown will not be entitled to avail of school transport from the Department of Education because they live just under three miles from the school. Local parents are up in arms over the Department's rule which states that students must live over three miles from the school to be eligible for school transport. Irene O'Donnell, whose son is due to start in first year in Colaiste na hInse in September, said she applied for her son to go on the school bus but received a reply saying that he was not entitled to the tranport because the family lives less than three miles from the school. She said that many other parents in the Mornington and Donacarney areas were in the same situation. Ms O'Donnell said it did not make sense to have some 80 extra cars dropping off children at Colaiste na hInse, and adding to the traffic congestion, when they were willing to travel on a school bus. She added that it would also be more environmentally friendly for children to travel by bus and pointed out that, in these recessionary times, parents may not be able to afford to pay the cost of a private bus. "There is a huge amount of children in this area who would use the bus. 120 new students are starting in the school this year. Between Grange Rath, Stameen, Mornington and Donacarney, there is plenty of demand for a bus," she said. Ms O'Donnell said that safety is a huge issue for parents and that while many would love for their children to cycle to school, there are no cycle lanes and it is simply too dangerous. She added that already Gardai are directing traffic at Donacarney National School, where the traffic is chaotic in the mornings. Ms O'Donnell added that people are being encouraged to use public transport. "The three mile rule is an old rule and it should be done away with," she said. The school transport scheme is operated by Bus Eireann nationally and, in Meath, County Meath VEC processes the applications and regulates the routes. VEC CEO Peter Kierans said there are very strict regulations that students must live more than three miles away from the school, though there may be some concessionary places available if the bus is not full for students who live within the three miles. "It is very tightly regulated. The transport scheme doesn't break even and is at huge cost to the department. There are very strict rules and this situation is repeated in every area. For example, there are students on the fringes of Navan that would not be eligible and communities have put on their own buses," said Mr Kierans. The CEO explained that, since the Navan bus crash tragedy of 2005, the three children to a seat rule has been abolished - up to that, a 68-seater bus would have taken up to 100 students. This has driven up the cost and reduced capacity on the buses. He explained that it would be very rare for there to be anymore than one or two concessionary places available on buses. Mr Kierans said that catchment areas can also cause issues. For example, many students from Athboy would traditionally have gone to school in Kells, but they are not entitled to school transport as they are in the Athboy catchment area. Students from Laytown and Bettystown are currently entitled to transport to Drogheda schools but this will stop after a couple of years as Colaiste na hInse is open in the area. Mr Kierans acknowledged that is is not in any way a "perfect system" but added he did not see any demand to change it. He agreed the issues of boundaries of catchment areas also causes a lot of upset.