Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending. We know it is an ungodly hour. We have had issues with school places in recent years, and today I looked through my records going back to 2017. We also have a problem with school transport. The Minister is well aware of the over-subscription for schools, in particular schools in Midleton, Youghal, Cobh and Carrigtwohill. There has been a lot of juggling in recent weeks trying to get people into schools.

I want to give three examples of the problems. One letter, which is a bit ironic, states:

I am a bit confused as to why there is an assumption that attending a school in County Waterford would have regard for family ethos. We live in County Cork in St. Catherine's Parish. Curraglass national school is where we cast our electoral votes.

The Department replied that this family's application has been processed, the child is not eligible for school transport as it is not the nearest school to the family’s home and that, having regard to ethos and language, the nearest school to their home is in Tallow, County Waterford. It is ridiculous that they cannot get a school place and have to send the child to a different county.

Another letter states that the son had been offered a first year place, after a long stressful wait, in the next village from Midleton, which is Carrigtwohill.Unfortunately, as they had not chosen the nearest school, they will not be able to access the Bus Éireann bus as the school does not qualify.

A lady writes of a situation where most of the siblings in the family had gone to school in Midleton from Killeagh, which is the other side of Castlemartyr, between Youghal and Midleton. Now, the last child has been told they will have to go to school in Youghal.

There is a lot of stress and confusion because people cannot go to the school nearest to them. Is there any way the Department, Bus Éireann or whoever operates these buses can come up with a common-sense solution and deal with these cases individually?

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