Longford mother at 'wits end' over school bus woes

A single mother of three has spoken of how she has been left at her "wits end" after being told her two children will not be able to avail of school transport even though their six kilometre journey is free.

Melanie Duignan hit out at an anomaly which she claims has left her with no option but to keep her teenage children Byron (16) and Jasmine (13) at home.

Ms Duignan, who resides in Killashee, said the pair, who are enrolled at Lanesboro Community College, had been forced to forego several days as a result.

She said difficulties in uploading her children's medical card details on Bus Éireann's online payment portal for school transportation services led to the problem.

"You are supposed to register your details before the end of July, but I said to myself that I would get it sorted in April but when I couldn't I rang them up," she said.

The Cavan native, who has been resident in Longford since the age of 16, claimed she had been informed the loophole would be resolved by Bus Éireann, only to find at the start of the school term that both her children had missed out on school transportation.

Concerns over the practicalities linked to the State's school transportation system have become an almost perennial headache for government bosses.

Bus Éireann operates the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education.

Free school transport is available for primary school children travelling to their nearest or second-nearest school which is more than 3.2km away and for secondary school pupils living more than 4.8km away from their school.

Concessionary, or paid, tickets are allocated to those who do not meet this criteria if seats are available. Availability fluctuates on routes every year.

Melanie told of how a similar issue arose four years ago wit her eldest son, Byron.

“I even ended up having to point out to them (Bus Éireann) on google maps that Lanesboro (Community) School is the closest to me,” she revealed.

Melanie said the controversy was made all the more baffling given that Byron has been on the school bus for the past four years."I just can't understand it," she said, as she spoke of how the fallout has already started to affect both her and her two children's mental health.

At the time of going to press there was no response from the Department of Education.

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