Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has welcomed the announcement that the school bus that operates on school transport route B9212 from Ashford to Wicklow will finally be operating again from Monday 8th April 2024.
Deputy Brady said “I welcome that seven months into the school year the school bus between Ashford and Wicklow Town is finally going to be reinstated. The issue left 53 pupils without school transport since the start of the school year even though they had secured places on school transport.
Brady said: “The situation where these poor children found themselves is unacceptable.
These were 53 children who the Department of Education has effectively abandoned by the side of the road.
This service will be operated by a newly recruited driver driving a Bus Éireann school bus.
The timetable is as before with no changes. The vehicle will drop pupils in Wicklow town as previously, including dropping and collecting pupils from Coláiste Chill Mhaintáin school. The service will also operate at the earlier school times on a Wednesday afternoon as the previous timetable did.
Since last September I have been in constant contact with the Department of Education on the issue and called on the Minister for Education Norma Foley to directly intervene.
Area representative and local election candidate Abbie O’Loughlin said “The situation was not only inconvenient and frustrating for families, it was impacting directly on the education of the children in question. Since September last year I’ve had many families in contact with me expressing complete anger and frustration at the entire process and how they have been failed.
Anthony Hill who is also standing for Sinn Féin in the June elections said “These children and their families have been badly failed. They had secured places on school transport, yet since the start of the school year have not been provided with a place on school transport, even though the service had previously been available. This should not be allowed to happen again, and lessons need to be learned from it.”