Mayo families demanding swift roll-out of school transport changes - Gallagher

Alma Gallagher, a local election candidate in the Claremorris electoral area, has called for the recommendations outlined for the School Transport Scheme to be quickly rolled out so they are in place for the new school year.

Under the recommendations, the distance criteria for children to be eligible to access school transport will be reduced from 3.3km to 2km initially, with a further reduction to 1km to follow at a later date.

The criteria restricting the transport so it only applies to the nearest school will also no longer be in place.

Currently, 13.3% of children in primary school in Mayo make use of the scheme with those numbers rising to 32.5% for secondary school children across the county.

Ballyhaunis-based Ms. Gallagher has said the priority now must be for these recommendations to be immediately adopted and work on implementation should also begin so that sufficient capacity is in place come the new school year in September.

“We don’t want a situation next September like what parents and children experienced at the beginning of the current school year, where some parents were left with no transport despite availing of the scheme annually up to that point,” Ms. Gallagher said.

“Families have waited long enough so that is why work should begin immediately on implementing these recommendations and making sure enough capacity is in place to cover all the schools in the area.

“There is a suggestion in the report that some of the recommendations could take until 2030 to be implemented and that simply isn’t good enough.

"That would mean students who were in first year when the review began would have finished school by the time the transport system was fixed.

“If we are going to achieve that objective then we also need to start incentivising drivers and bus contractors to join the programme.

"They will play a pivotal role in this scheme and we need to start identifying who will be the people who can help deliver this vitally important service in each local community.

“Without this service there are many families who will experience challenges in getting their children to and from school, while also maintaining employment.

"By ensuring we have a proper school transport system in place it also reduces the number of vehicles on local roads, making our roads safer.

“It is a win win for the community and that is why I will be pressing the Department of Education and the other bodies involved to make sure we see progress on this matter as soon as possible,” Ms. Gallagher concluded.