Kildare County Council to write to Department of Education over school transport

Kildare County Council is to write to the Department of Education requesting a school bus service from Newbridge be provided to facilitate children attending schools in the Curragh, Co Kildare.

According to Cllr Tom McDonnell (IND), who raised a motion at a recent Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District meeting, children from Newbridge are attending the DEIS school in the Curragh, “and they have an awful job getting up there.”

Cllr McDonnell said there is a 126 bus route which services the area, but that he had around “40 complaints” from parents about the bus service to the Curragh from Newbridge.

Children, he said, were arriving late to school, and were in a state of anxiety “before they even start school”.

READ NEXT: Kildare town calling on local community for St Patrick's Day support

He said in the dark evenings, he himself had witnessed children waiting at the bus stop “at six o'clock waiting to get home.”

“I don't think in modern Ireland that that's acceptable”, he said.

His suggestion was that the Municipal District write to the Department as a group of councillors to request a school bus service for Newbridge children attending school in the Curragh.

Cllr Noel Heavey (FF) said the business of transferring children out of their own community to go to a school outside the community because there is a lack of school places, “is a vexed question.”

He said that with a new school coming in Kildare, children from Newbridge would be facilitated, “but there will have to be a transport element.”

He said that if transport for children was not available on the scheduled service, “there has to be access, a structural way for kids to get to school.”

Cllr Chris Pender (SD) queried whether Cllr McDonnell's motion was being directed towards the correct government department, as he was not entirely sure which department school transport falls under.

He said that having sufficient transport for children was something which “absolutely” needed to be done, but he questioned whether the motion was directed to the correct department.

A council official confirmed that the Department of Education is responsible for school transport, and that Cllr McDonnell's motion was correct in this regard.

Also speaking at the meeting, Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer (FG) said that school buses were “a huge issue last September”, and there were many children left without school transport, notably those going to the Gaelscoil on Piper's Hill.

In that particular case, she said, a short-term solution was found, but there was a commitment from government at the time that it was reviewing all school transport and that new buses would be in place, with an update on that before September 2025.

Cllr O'Dwyer suggested that the letter also seek an update on this review.

It was agreed by the Municipal District committee to write to the Department of Education with the terms of Cllr McDonnell's motion.