Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today on school transport. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight an issue that has affected multiple schoolchildren who use the Bus Éireann school transport service in my constituency of Donegal. There is a major communication issue between buses and schools regarding drop-off times. It seems that the drop-off time of schoolchildren to schools is decided by Bus Éireann, based on fulfilling all the needs of the area, without prior discussions or arrangement with the schools. One constituent contacted me about her son who just started junior infants in Letterkenny last month. At this particular school, Bus Éireann has decided that the drop-off time is 8.45 a.m. However, the school is adamant that supervision of the children cannot be provided until 8.50 a.m. This means that children as young as four years old are left on-site without supervision. While five minutes may not seem long, those five minutes are excruciatingly long for anxious parents who are sending their children to school for the very first time and five minutes is long enough for very young children to find themselves facing a situation that they are not equipped to deal with.

When applying for the scheme there is no mention of the fact that this is a possibility and it is also not mentioned in the terms and conditions. It is very possible that some people are not even aware that this is happening. This could potentially be an issue that is affecting many children across the country and it is also possible that some children are being left for more than five minutes. It is not clear who is legally responsible for schoolchildren after they are dropped off by school transport and before the school is opened. This oversight means that both Bus Éireann and the school are able to pass responsibility to the other. Despite both Bus Éireann’s and the school’s child protection and safeguarding policies claiming to put children's safety first, I can only imagine that, should an incident arise, these policies will only be deemed to take effect once the child is in the care of the relevant body. Due to the fact that the drop-off time is imposed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education, schools should be obliged to provide staff to supervise children from alighting from the bus to the beginning of lessons. I believe it is reasonable to ensure supervision for the few additional minutes where needed. Both Bus Éireann and schools are in agreement that it is the Department of Education that needs to resolve this issue. I have, however, raised this issue with the Minister for Education multiple times in the last month to no response. I am asking today that the Minister of State investigate this issue and ensure that children as young as four are not left unsupervised on school grounds for any length of time at all. I would also like to ask the Minister of State what the cost of providing school transport for all children would actually be across the country. I do not believe it would be prohibitive. It would certainly free up time in this House every year if every kid could get transport to school in the first place.

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