Cahill Secures 22 Additional School Bus Spaces for Kilcommon/Upperchurch Route

The Minister for Education, Norma Foley has informed local TD, Jackie Cahill, that an additional 22 bus school bus spaces will be made available for secondary school students on the Kilcommon/Upperchurch to Thurles school bus route. Cahill received this positive news for local families this afternoon following extensive lobbying and questioning of the Department of Education and Bus Éireann in relation to this route.

Speaking in advance of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party think-in in Cavan this afternoon, the Thurles man said: “I am absolutely delighted to receive confirmation this afternoon from Minister Foley that my efforts in securing additional capacity on the Kilcommon/Upperchurch to Thurles bus route have been successful.

“Over the last two weeks, I have been contacted by a great number of concerned parents locally who had their children left without school bus tickets this year. I have been in regular contact with Minister Foley personally and her senior officials over the phone on this issue over the last two weeks and I also continued to question Bus Éireann on how this decision could be allowed to stand.

Minister Foley’s Private Secretary wrote to Deputy Cahill this afternoon stating: “Further to your query regarding the Upperchurch/Kilcommon service, … students will be offered a seat on this service as a number of children meet the criteria for the temporary alleviation measures and, arising from additional capacity created in accommodating these children, that capacity can be offered in this instance to other concessionary applicants.”

Early last week Deputy Cahill discovered that a number of students in Upperchurch who are attending their second closest school had not been provided with bus tickets. According to the Fianna Fáil TD, this contradicted Bus Éireann’s new policy that these students must be provided with tickets, saying: “Once we had jumped that hurdle it was then possible to convince the Minister that any additional capacity on the bus would then be given to students who did not qualify under this rule but had registered for concessionary tickets.

“I would like to sincerely thank Minister Foley for working with me on this issue as I know it will come as a welcome relief to many families impacted. I would also like to thank the parents and school principals who provided me with the necessary information and support to get this issue over the line, and for their patience, while we worked through the particulars”, Cahill concluded.


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