Joanne is a full time carer for her young son Cadan, who suffers from Jacobsens Syndrome and requires round the clock care from his family and nursing staff. For Joanne, the bus system which took her eldest son Cian to and from school, was a life saver.
"Ever since Cian started Secondary School, we have been using the school bus. The route passes our door and it means that Cian can get up and go to school whether we are home or not. We know it's reliable and safe. If I'm in bed having been up with Cadan in the night, or my husband is at work, we don't have to worry," Joanne said.
However, this piece of mind has been disrupted following the ongoing issue with tickets for school buses for the academic year. The issue comes following the Minister for Education, Norma Foley's announcement to provide free school transport to students for 2022 / 2023. The action, she had hoped would ease the ongoing worries around cost of living. This year a reported 30,000 to 35,000 children have applied for a bus ticket. Many have championed the concept, including Galway County Councillor David Collins, who said; "Free school transport is a brilliant idea and should have always been available, but the concept has not been logically thought about or planned."
For Joanne, who under loco parentis, an act which requires her to supervise all medical staff coming into the home and to sign off on their work, leaving the house every morning to drop Cian to school, is not an option.
"When we have nurses in the home, they can't be left unattended. You have to sign off as having supervise any healthcare workers in the house. If complications arose and I had left, I would be in a very difficult situation. If the issue with leaving to drop Cian to school was brought up to the HSE, they might give me one nurse, but someone needs to supervise that one nurse and they will never give me two."
In the past, Joanne relied heavily on neighbours and the community around them, people who have been a great support, but she's aware that they were "exhausting the good nature of the community for favours. Especially since I can't offer those favours back."
The school bus provided some much needed support over the last three years. "It was one worry we didn't have. We have so many worries and battles, we are fighting constantly, this was one thing off my mind."
“I think the Minister of Education and the Minister for Transport need to think, 'did we do it right?'. There should have been a system where families who have paid for it should have been sorted first, should have been thought of first. They paid for it because they needed it. Concession first and then others after."
For Joanne and her family, how Cian will make the daily trip to and from school is an overhanging problem with no immediate solution.
Fine Gael Councillor David Collins who has been working with parent groups effected by the school bus issue says that there are a couple of factors which have helped to worsen the current crisis.
"I feel that this has been a problem every year, the concessionary list don't know if they have a ticket until the end of the summer. If they had opened applications for everyone earlier and reassessed in October and offered a rebate for the price of the ticket, it wouldn't be so bad," said Cllr Collins.
"The idea of concessionary tickets is mad. I pushed a motion to the Council two years ago because the topic of the term concessionary means that you're paying things at a reduced rate, but it is not true," Collins added.
Cllr Collins further stated that rules around retirement regulations for bus drivers working for Bus Éireann means that they are no longer allowed to drive buses after the age of seventy, something he feels is disenfranchising a certain critera of drivers.
"Bus Éireann have drivers, but when they get to the age of seventy they can't drive for them anymore. They can drive privately, but not for Bus Éireann, which is a shame because the timing of the school run could suit retired drivers. That is disenfranchising a cohort that could help."
This coupled with getting more buses on the road and a subsidised tender for school transport providers, something to help with rising costs, would, according to Cllr. Collins, help alleviate the issue. Factors that Collins hopes the Government will include in the plans for next year.
"Now they know how many people need a school transport system and the volume of buses on the road, it can be a learning lesson," he said, further adding, "All school transport should be free and everyone should be entitled to it regardless of distance from the school."
