Senator Pauline O’Reilly is calling for improvements to the secondary school application process and for better school transport. She said getting into a secondary school in Galway is proving more difficult as the population grows, and change is needed.
Senator O’Reilly said that during the current election campaign, one of the things that comes up on the doors is the difficulty of securing a secondary school place and the stress involved when the parent and student wait many months to find out which school will accept them.
She added that Limerick has a system where 17 secondary schools co-operate in a single application process which allows applicants to list their preferences. She stated that Galway should incorporate a similar system, but The Galway Education Support Centre lacks the funding.
“In this system the schools still have their own admission policies which can vary, but at least the application and offer dates all line up and pupils only receive one offer at a time. I will be advocating for the Department of Education to set aside funding for this specific purpose.”
She finished her statement saying that transport is the next challenge. Having parents drive their secondary school children adds to traffic chaos, takes time for the parent, and takes away some of the student’s independence. The Greens will make bus transport for secondary school more accessible by merging the school transport scheme with the public bus network. We will also provide every secondary school child living at least 1km from their school with a seat on a bus.”
