'The system isn’t right' – Laois children refused school bus seats

Some Laois students have been refused a place on school buses this September, leaving their families with cumbersome morning routines.

Declan Lynch, who lives between Emo and Mountmellick, has children in first, third and sixth year at Mountmellick Community School. After they were refused bus seats for the year, Mr Lynch has been driving to Emo in the morning to drop a child to primary school, before turning back, driving past his door, and dropping his older children to secondary school in Mountmellick.

School buses are run by Bus Éireann, a state-owned transport operator, which assigns annual tickets according to criteria set by the Department of Education. Under this criteria, primary school children are eligible for school buses if they live at least 3.2 kilometres from their nearest primary school. Secondary students are eligible if they live at least 4.8 kilometres from their nearest secondary school.

Eligible tickets are distributed during July and August. After all eligible children have been assigned tickets, Bus Éireann distributes the remainder – “concessionary” tickets – by lottery. Both eligible and concessionary tickets cost €100 for the year for a single child.

Last year, Mr Lynch’s children were assigned to the “concessionary” category although, he says, they live 4.9 kilometres from the school, door to door.

“We were on concessionary tickets, now we thought nothing of that, but this year, lo and behold, no ticket. We had it paid and all, and they sent back the money and said: ‘no ticket available’.”

“There’s so much about meals at the minute,” said Mr Lynch, referring to the Department’s hot school meals programme for primary schools, “and we haven’t got a bus.”

Jules Fitzpatrick’s daughter is in second year at Heywood Community School. She lives in Ballyroan and attended primary school there. Ms Fitzpatrick’s daughter took the bus to Heywood in first year on a concessionary ticket, but she was denied a ticket this year, and Ms Fitzpatrick is now driving her to school in the mornings.

“I’ve got children who go to primary, so I’m literally leaving my house nearly an hour earlier than I would normally leave the house, to make sure I go up to drop her up to school, come back to drop them to school in time, and then to get into work on time.

“And then I’ve had to change my working day. I don’t finish work until four o’clock. I’ve had to change my working day to half three, and then I have to work on my extra hours at the end of the week. [...] And then obviously the extra fuel cost involved as well – of going up and down to the school twice a day.

“The trickiest part for her is, you know, she was so upset because she thought she was going to have to move schools, and I said that’s not going to happen, there’s no way I’m going to move your school for the sake of a bus ticket.”

Ms Fitzpatrick’s daughter fell foul of the “nearest school” qualifier in the Department’s criteria. Ballyroan is significantly further than 4.8 kilometres from Heywood, or any secondary school. Ms Fitzpatrick’s home is closer to Dunamase College in Portlaoise than it is to Heywood, however, so her daughter is not eligible for school transport to Heywood. “They’re saying we’re half a kilometre closer to go to Dunamase school,” said Ms Fitzpatrick.

She intimated that there are cultural ties between particular areas and schools that the Department’s spatial criteria do not account for: “I genuinely do feel that: she lives in Ballyroan, and she went to school in Ballyroan all her life. Everyone in that school goes to Heywood. She should have a bus – when every other child in the village is getting on a bus to go to school in the morning. The system isn’t right, you know?”

She continued: “Out of around 150 students [travelling to Heywood from Ballyroan], there’s seven or eight children being excluded from the bus service.”

Ms Fitzpatrick submitted an appeal to Bus Éireann over a month ago and has not received a response.

Bus Éireann told the Leinster Express: “Bus Éireann operates the school transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth. For the school year 2025/26, Bus Éireann provided transport for over 181,000 pupils on a daily basis, nationwide.

“All pupils who are eligible for school transport, who complied with applications/payment deadlines and where a route exists are being facilitated with transport.

“Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who applied and paid on time and where a service exists will be considered for any spare seats/tickets, after all eligible children have been catered for. Tickets for non-eligible students are known as concessionary tickets.

“The [Laois students refused concessionary tickets] are children who are not eligible for school transport. The availability of concessionary transport for non-eligible students may vary from year to year, is not available on public scheduled services and cannot be guaranteed for the duration of a child’s post primary school education cycle.”

Complaints about the withholding of concessionary tickets are not unique to Laois, with similar reports having emerged across the country in recent weeks.

Laois TD Deputy Willie Aird raised the issue with Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Jack Chambers in the Dáil on Tuesday, saying: “We cannot expect children to move school because their transport arrangements have changed.”

The minister responded that the number of children using the service nationally had increased from about 120,000 in 2019 to 181,000 this year and that funding had also increased from €219 million in 2019 to more than €600 million in 2026.

The minister said he would ask officials in the Department of Education to engage with Mr Aird to try to resolve the issues affecting the Laois students concerned.