8 March 2025
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Leader of Independent Ireland and TD for Cork South-West Michael Collins has reiterated his insistence that the Department of Education delivers a dedicated school bus service to transport over 30 children from Bantry to Schull.
File photo of West Cork TD Michael Collins (Ind Irl Party)
Deputy Collins raised the matter directly with Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the floor of the Dáil, where he stressed the long-running and unresolved nature of the issue that has generated significant frustration among parents in Bantry who are currently being left with no option but to spend two hours a day transporting their children to school:
“It simply defies comprehension that a school transport system with a budget of over €500 million annually cannot accommodate the provision of a basic bus service for the school children of Bantry,” said Deputy Collins.
“I have repeatedly raised this issue with the current Minister for Education and her predecessor, but for some inexplicable reason the children of Bantry are being effectively ignored. This is entirely unacceptable.”
“The children satisfy all the of the relevant eligibility criteria in terms of distance and access to the Scheme but progress on delivery has been non-existent.”
“It is very hard to take any of the commitments to expand the School Transport system to include an additional 100,000 pupils by 2030 seriously when the department seems unable to provide seats for 0.03% of that number in Bantry.”
“I am resolved that this issue will not continue for another academic year, and I will do everything I can to try and drum some common sense in to the department on the lack of service.”
“We are not asking for a fleet of chauffer driven cars. We are asking for a simple bus service capable of meeting the reasonable demands of parents who are rapidly losing patience with the inertia that is being displayed by the department,” concluded Deputy Collins.