Sinn Féin Councillor and general election candidate Conor D. McGuinness has reiterated his call for Education Minister Norma Foley (FF) to ensure students from Ardmore and surrounding areas can get to their secondary schools in Dungarvan. McGuinness spoke at a protest march highlighting the issue that was organised by parents and held in Ardmore on Saturday.
The West Waterford representative has been campaigning for a public school bus service for the Ardmore area for a number of years. The gap has been filled by a private operator over recent years, however this service has now ceased and families have been left with no way to get children to school in Dungarvan.
Cllr. Conor McGuinness said:
“The Minister for Education needs to urgently intervene to solve this issue. At present her Department will only provide a public school bus service to Youghal, despite the fact that the vast majority of secondary students from Ardmore and surrounding areas attend schools in Dungarvan.
“Families from Ardmore, Clashmore, Grange, Kinsalebeg and surrounding areas are being put at a disadvantage because there is no public CIE school bus service operating between these area and Dungarvan. Until now families have depended on a commercially operated private bus service, but this will not operate this year. While this service plugged the gap in public provision, it put families under unfair financial pressure. The need for a public school bus service is now greater than ever.
“The Minister is well aware of this issue and has simply chosen to ignore it – despite over 400 people in the locality adding their voices to the call for a public service last year. Minister Foley’s response was to simply restate the current situation and ignore the concerns raised by parents.
“Responsibility for school transport lies with the Minister and her Department. Attempts by her local Fianna Fáil colleagues to shield her from political accountability by pointing the finger at school principle are inaccurate and unfair.
“Minister Foley is currently sitting on a review of school transport prepared by her Department that very clearly recommends that the ‘nearest school’ criteria is eliminated and that the change should apply from the start of the 2024/25 school year. The Minister’s own report recommends that new routes should be based on parental demand, yet she and her Department have steadfastly refused to listen to parents.
“There is a Bus Éireann service operating from Kiely’s Cross – it would be very feasible for this route to be extended to Ardmore. Not only would this facilitate students from Ardmore, but it would improve road safety at this junction, by reducing the number of cars dropping students to meet the bus at this location.
“I have written to the Minister again asking simply that she would follow through on her commitments, implement the recommendations in her report, and get this problem solved so families can send their children to school.”
Conor D. McGuinness TD 