A Sligo/Leitrim TD says keeping school transport at 50% capacity while other public transport has reverted to 100% capacity is ‘ridiculous in the extreme.’
Fianna Fail Deputy Marc MacSharry has written to Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Education Minister Norma Foley asking them to direct that 100% capacity be restored immediately on school tranport..
He says this ‘absurd anomaly’is compounded by the fact that pupils will play together in the school yard and sit beside one another in classrooms.
He also says because of the reduced capacity, some families have been told — only a day or two before schools reopened — that there was no space for them on school transport vehicles, despite them having bought tickets earlier in the summer.
Deputy MacSharry says the transport system as it now stands discriminates against school pupils in rural areas.
