Dangerous Mayo school bus issue raised in Dáil

A dangerous and frustrating North Mayo school bus issue has been highlighted in the Dáil.

Pupils from the townlands of Derryfadda and Boleyglass in Bofeenaun have found themselves without a post-primary bus service despite fully meeting the criteria since the 2023/2024 school year.

A bus had serviced the route from 1979 up to 2021 when it was withdrawn due to a decline in student numbers. A local action group has been actively campaigning to get this route reinstated after the number of students rose again.

Local parents in Derryfadda and Boleyglass told the Western People last month that the absence of this service has resulted in a “daily scramble” to ensure their children are collected from schools and that rural children have a right to a safe, reliable and affordable school transport option that is available in towns and cities.

Speaking in the Dáil, Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh said common sense is required to ensure school transport schemes are fit for purpose and serving the needs of the community.

“For over a year now, I have been trying to resolve the dangerous situation currently in operation on the Derryfadda-Boleyglass school route. Since 2021, a bus route which had serviced these areas since 1979 - for more than 40 years - ceased operation due to a decline in student numbers. Since then, student numbers have risen again, and they meet the criteria to have the route reinstated. However, Bus Éireann and the Department of Education have failed to reinstate this service,” said Deputy Conway-Walsh.

“Instead, parents and children are expected to travel to the nearest designated collection/drop-off point, which happens to be located at the intersection of the R315 and the L1723, a busy commuter route with no bicycle lanes or street lighting and a significant blindspot on approach for other road users.

“There is a bus already in operation on this route for primary school pupils, so why can the previously operational route at post-primary level not be reinstated? There needs to be some common sense applied in this situation, especially now in the winter months when visibility on our rural roads is significantly reduced. At a time when we need families returning to our rural townlands and villages to counteract rural decline, we should not have barriers such as inadequate and unsafe school transport preventing this."

Deputy Conway-Walsh said it is baffling that a route which operated for four decades cannot be reinstated.

“We are simply asking for the reinstatement of a previously operational route that served the students of Derryfadda and Boleyglass for 40 years. If we could do it in 1979, why can’t it be done today?”