School children across Waterford are being left with no place on the school bus.
That's according to local councillors, who say they've been contacted by more distressed parents for this school term, than for any previous term.
It comes as more than 44,000 first-time applicants applied for a seat on the Bus Éireann school transport scheme when the government scrapped the fee this year.
However, capacity on the service wasn't increased.
"Other years it was always the concessionary ticket-holders who were finding it difficult to access seats," says Tallow Councillor, John Pratt, "but this year it's some concessionary, it's people who are eligible , and there's also a blip in the system whereby, anyone who applied via a Yahoo email account, has actually caused problems in the system as well and they haven't been recognised.
"So, it's completely ludicrous what's happening."
Councillor Pratt says he has been inundated with phone calls and emails from concerned parents in the last few weeks.
"They were expecting that their tickets might be on their way out in the post," he explains, "or that they'd have them and they have just realised now that their tickets aren't coming and that, in some cases, they don't even have a seat on the bus - a bus that their kids have had seats on for the past number of years."
The Labour representative has also suggested that the Education and Transport departments should work together each year to make sure that every child has a seat on a bus, where needed.
However, without the joined-up approach or the expansion of capacity, a number of families across Waterford have been left without school transport for their children.
