Some parents in Sligo are being forced to car-pool because their children do not qualify for the school bus.
It follows a meeting of parents in Collooney last night where up to 7 families in the area don’t qualify for concessionary tickets for their children to get to Coola Post-Primary School.
Bus Eireann was invited to the meeting but organisers say a representative did not attend the meeting last night
This ongoing issue is down to what known as the ‘nearest school rule’ for public school transport which gives subsidised bus transport to children who live more than 4.8km away from their nearest eligible school.
Sinn Fein Councillor Thomas Healy is one of the families involved.
He says even though parents pay €350 a year they still can’t access concessionary tickets if they are not in the local catchment area for Coola which Collooney is not.
However, he says his daughter also would not qualify for the Ballisodare bus as she lives less than the required €4.8km from the school.
He says parents are now being forced to carpool because because of the confusing and amended catchment area rules.
He says Collooney and Riverstown are just examples of this wider issue which is affecting every school in rural areas:
