TDs have slammed the Minister for Education as they say students throughout the country are left without school transport with schools due to reopen next week.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, said that “once again like every other year I have been inundated with requests from parents throughout my own constituency where students failed to receive tickets leaving both them and their parents in the lurch. Students and their parents who rely on the bus ticket lottery system anxiously awaited the final allocation of tickets only to be left devasted when they learned they won’t be accommodated this year.”
He said that, in Meath, “on certain school transport routes such as Ballivor to Trim, each year parents tell me there are clearly visible seats on the school bus which aren’t being used. I’m aware of at least 5 families on that route alone who didn’t get tickets this year.”
Offaly TD, Carol Nolan, described the crisis recurring each year as a “GroundHog Day farce” that she says sees “parents struggling for school bus tickets and seats” once again.
“It is beyond ludicrous that each and every year this anxiety-inducing spectacle is visited upon parents and pupils irrespective of how long in advance they make their application for a place on the bus. I have Leaving Cert year students onto my office that have been attending the same school for 5 years and yet this year, of all years, they are still without a seat.,” she said.
“I have been demanding for the better part of this year that the RSA, Bus Eireann, the Minister and the Department work collaboratively on this to avoid this very scenario. Unfortunately, forward planning is not a strong suit of our systems which are quite often characterised by reaction and chaos,” the Independent TD said.
Peadar Tóibín said that he raised this issue with the Minister for Education through a Parliamentary Question last October to provide an analysis at that point of the number of school transport tickets allocated that are not being utilised – and the consequent number of spare seats for the school year 2023-24 by each county.
“Instead of being able to provide the numbers which I would have expected, the Minister told me there was no way to examine data on ticket usage. There was basically no system to identify who is not using the tickets, and her proposed solution was to ask parents who do not plan to use school bus tickets to return them voluntarily to the department to be reissued to others,” he said.
Tóibín continued “ This year when parents were being informed they hadn’t been successful in securing a ticket, Bus Eireann told them by email “Whilst it may appear that on some school transport services there is spare capacity, please be assured the number of tickets issued correspond with the number of seats on the bus and Bus Éireann cannot over-subscribe the service”. I find this hardly credible as it doesn’t seem logical that families would pay for tickets each year, but never use them.”
“Yet the Minister has no idea how many seats are lost in the system through non-usage. It’s particularly frustrating she put no realistic plan in place to deal with this issue one year on where students have to watch on as their friends board a bus with a number of vacant seats. I’m aware some of these students also have disabilities and significant health issues which is incredibly cruel. In certain instances where some Ukrainian students may have left the country does the Minister even know how many of those seats are not being used as those students were automatically re-enrolled each year,” the Aontú leader said.
“With the publication of the school transport review last January, I really hoped the Minister would have got to grips with the school transport crisis by this stage. The review recommended the reduction of the distance required to be eligible for school transport, and removal of the requirement of attending the nearest school once there was a minimum of 10 students in need of transport. In rural areas of Rathcore, Bohermeen and Stakallen in Meath, parents have been looking to be included on an existing route as a collection point for some time, or for their own separate school bus where the numbers well exceed 20 students. The Minister in a reply to me earlier this year even advised that the students from Bohermeen should make sure to apply for tickets, and the route could possibly be reviewed or adapted for this school year. Yet when tickets were issued it wasn’t included on the route at all, and parents are still expected to drive to the nearest collection point some miles away. Last year government backbench TDs admitted privately the yearly school transport crisis could affect their chances of being re-elected. I would remind them and the Minister that threat is still very real and it hasn’t gone away”, Tóibín said.
Earlier this year, Minister Foley published a report detailing plans for a significant expansion of school bus services beginning in September 2025. She said the School Transport 2030 review – which began in 2021 – was “born of intensive consultation” and described it as a “significant overhaul” that would help more parents and guardians deal with cost-of-living challenges.
“It’s a very significant moment, because this is the first time since 1967 that we have seen such a significant overhaul and review of the school transport system,” she said.