Kinnegad Parents Voice Anger Over School Bus Ticket Scheme

Kinnegad GAA Hall was packed with concerned parents as a committee, involving Cllr Denis Leonard, held a meeting to discuss unfair treatment regarding discounted bus fares.

Local parents expressed their concerns and, in some instances, anger, as Minister Robert Troy addressed some of the parents' concerns.

The meeting began with the committee providing background information on the situation, highlighting a lack of transparency from Bus Éireann and schools.

It emerged that Bus Éireann had established a new lottery style concessionary ticket scheme, where families that applied on time and were selected would get their children's annual bus tickets at a discounted rate.

At the meeting, parents and the committee expressed their frustration at the lack of communication from schools and Bus Éireann alike.

One of the conditions to qualify for the concessionary tickets was that residents live within a 5km radius of their secondary school, but Kinnegad, with one of the largest populations in Westmeath, is further than 5km.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister Robert Troy said: “I am certainly not here to defend how this has been handled, because I couldn't defend it; it's been handled appallingly.

“There is a clear direction in terms of where the government wants to go with this. We took the view to try to increase the capacity of the School Transport Scheme.

“Which, up until two years ago, hadn't been reviewed since 1967.”

Troy continued: “Being honest with everyone here tonight, I don't believe that this is going to be resolved this year.

“I have spoken to Minister Moynihan on a few occasions and will continue to do so, but he has spoken with Bus Eireann and unfortunately the budgets haven't been allocated.”

Councillor Denis Leonard gave his critiques of the Bus Eireann scheme, demonstrating the reasons for some of the anger on the ground among locals.

Leonard said, “To say that it opened and closed is one thing, but nobody knew it was happening.

“It wasn't advertised; the school should have been the source of information.

“Kinnegad is getting bigger; there are two new estates and apartments planned for the town, if anything, this just proves that Kinnegad simply needs a secondary school.”

It remains uncertain what the future holds for Kinnegad’s concerned parents, but the hope is that at the very least, they will have a more concrete understanding of what is planned for next year.