Parents of school children using the CIE buses had to pay €168 for the school year, but from next term onwards, the cost will be €300 for the full year for the school bus ticket.
Fine Gael senator and North West EU candidate Joe O’Reilly said the increase is a “disgraceful charge being summoned upon ordinary families, who are trying to educate their children in these very difficult times”.
He said the free education which created the Celtic Tiger is being “gradually eroded”.
“Soon the gates of our schools and universities will be closed to the children of the poor,” he said. “Yet again the most vulnerable in our society are being hit by the Government’s ineptitude to provide an education for our children and for the future of this country.”
