A campaign group in West Waterford has provided an update on the long standing issue of a public school bus service.
The group has campaigned for the areas of Ardmore, Clashmore Grange and Pilltown to be provided with a bus for children to attend secondary school in Dungarvan.
The group's statement which was posted on Saturday evening stated:
"Thankfully, we now have safe pickup points. While this is a step in the right direction, we still face challenges. Approximately 40 students in our area are without a public school bus ticket, and many students who do have tickets for the public bus only hold concessionary tickets."
"Looking ahead to the 2025/2026 school year, we and a lot of others expected that the concessionary ticket issue would be resolved by 2025."
The group stated that recent communication from the Department of Education has indicated that the implementation of 100,000 new tickets and other suggestions from the school transport report will arrive by 2030, with phased implementation due to have started in 2024.
"As a result, students who apply on a concessionary basis will likely still not have guaranteed tickets next year. Concessionary tickets are issued by a lottery system. Therefore, no one is guaranteed a ticket over another even if you held a concessionary ticket this year."
The group believes that there will be an increase in applications next year which will lead to further difficulty in securing tickets and have advised families to apply on time with the school transport ticket portal opening in February 2025.
"Once the new government is formed, we will continue to fight for changes to the eligibility criteria, hopefully with the support of all our locally elected TDs and councillors, to ensure that all children attending schools in Dungarvan from our area have access to a guaranteed, affordable, and safe bus service for all."
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