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LAST UPDATE | 14 Aug 2020
A NUMBER OF opposition politicians have voiced concerns over the plans for school transport when children return to school at the end of this month.
As part of the government’s plan to re-open schools, the Department of Education has said that the School Transport Scheme will “fully operate as normal” but that a number of hygiene requirements will be in place.
Among those requirements are that children using the bus always sit in pre-assigned seating and next to a sibling or child from their class group.
Children are to also use hand sanitiser when boarding the bus and are told not to use school transport if they are displaying symptoms of Covid-19.
The rules also dictate that students must maintain physical distancing while waiting for transport but a number of politicians have criticised the fact that physical distancing is not an explicit requirement on the buses themselves.
Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD has said the department needs to clarify a number of issues, including whether physical distancing is required on school buses.
“Is this now official Department of Education policy that school buses are exempt from social distancing requirements?,” the Dublin Bay North TD said this afternoon.
What attempts were made by the department to engage with Bus Éireann, the Department of Transport and the NTA to deal with the logistical considerations by obtaining additional buses to deal with capacity constraints imposed by social distancing?
“She also needs to outline how children with underlying conditions who avail of school transport will be accommodated because the letter sent from her Department effectively endorses putting them on packed school buses.”
Ó Ríordáin has called on Minister for Education Norma Foley to appear before the Oireachtas Covid-19 Committee to answer questions on the matter.
Sinn Féin TD Darren O’Rourke has also said that social distancing needs to be made a priority for school buses and that more buses need to be put on to allow this to happen.
“It will come as a surprise to many, that although capacity on public transport has been limited to 50% due to Covid-19, no social distancing is planned for school buses when they return at the end of this month,” O’Rourke said.
While it may not be possible to achieve 50% capacity on these services, we believe additional buses should be put on to allow for more social distancing for school children.
“It’s envisaged that children will sit in designated seats, but as many school buses serve numerous schools, an outbreak in one school could spread through the school bus system under the current plans.”
O’Rourke added that there are “thousands of buses and coaches sitting idle” due to the lack of tourist numbers this year and that they should be used as part of the School Transport Scheme.
In its document outlining back-to-school protocols, the Department of Education argues that school transport services are different to public transport in that they are “controlled environments” and carry “the same children on a daily basis”.
The department also says that contact tracing is easier in school transport services because it is “a restricted group of transport users”.
Roadmap
In an update this evening on the plans for schools reopening, the minister said that “significant progress” has been made since plans were announced two-and-a-half weeks ago.
Foley said that the department is “fully focused” on providing a safe environment for children and that, to date, almost €160 million has issued to schools to cover minor works such as cleaning and PPE.
“I would like to pay tribute to the work that is being undertaken at a local school level to ensure that we can reopen our schools at the end of the month. We are fully focused on ensuring our children have a safe environment to return to and the work you are doing is critical to achieving that goal,” Foley said.
I hope that these extra resources are of value to schools as they continue their preparations. It is important that we put an emphasis on the wellbeing of the whole school community as this year’s school reopening will pose different challenges for everyone.
“We will continue to communicate with principals, students, parents and all stakeholders over the next couple of weeks and update all materials as necessary.”
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Christ, whatever you do, don’t ever predict anything good for the country. Journal commenters hate good news. SF keyboard warriors out in force this morning, hating that unemployment will fall. What patriots.
Good news. Strong economic growth continues for another year. Huge momentum in the construction and investment sectors. Look at the cranes on the Dublin skyline.
You do realise that Ireland extends beyond the Dublin city skyline?
Yep, in fact unemployment has fallen fastest in the south-west of the country.
The same ESRI that predicted economic growth in 2008.
They also said 3.5% growth back in 2008 and for 2010 to be a good year for growth. https://www.esri.ie/ /medium-term-review-2008-11/
Same that predicted a “soft-landing” in 2007/8 lol
They also predicted 4.2% growth for 2016 this time last year and were bang on the money.
@Fred Johnson: gdp figures are disappointing though only 3.5%, a big drop from 26% eh Fred.
@Derek Poutch: But the GNP figure of 8% for this year is remarkably strong.
I predict that the predictions will not be true. Seriously what’s the point in these. We make fun of psychics and fortune tellers but this is the exact same and for some reason we’re supposed to just accept it.
Totally agree.
@Simon Peters: They only predict what fg tell them to predict.
I reckon I can predict a few things. More people going homeless, more house repossessions, higher rents, more hospital waiting lists, politicians giving themselces a generous pay rise.
@Adrian: augh….tut tut tut Adrain..get that feel good factor, get into the Christmas spirit, we have turned the corner, in 2017 we are going to take the Celtic tiger out for a walk again..don’t be negative, don’t be pessimistic ..keep drinking Ltrs and Ltrs of that Christmas spirit and you to will turn into a pissed optimist with a lost sense of direction… as Mr Kenny follows Trumps lead to ‘MAKE IRELAND GREAT AGAIN’…ok fair enough, great for the select few, but great again never the less, because once them select few convince themselves the country has started making them money then thats the arument over, never mind what the rest of us think or what reality is.
Who is paying for these BS predictions FG/FF?
@Martin Ryan: Mystic Moggy and goat intrails?
The ersi is a self perpetuating bunch of bullshit artists, who frankly get paid for talking up the economy, with predictions based on their interpretation of flawed statistics, in the face of continuing downturn and financial hardship across the country. The only other group of people in the prediction business, who are held to account less, for their flawed predictions are newspaper astrologers!
Financial weather men for government didn’t hear much from these guys for eight long suffering years ,”come on let’s party like it’s 1999″
Keep the recovery going lads.
@Alex Falcone: sounds like ER !..in fact it looks like it to haaaaa
@Alex Falcone: I bet someone said the same on the Titanic as well?
This time next year I’ll be tearing down the Lee with a brand new jetski under my hole and a gourmet fairtrade organic artisan breakfast roll in my hand
@Quiet Goer: Health and Safety would stop you as your roll might get wet?
Well Hello everybody from Rural Ireland…..Could somebody open the door and let this continued economic growth out to rural Ireland…because one quick journey through it suggests the complete opposite.
@CJ Stewart: It is a tale of two economies. Dublin is growing very strongly and is in fact being hampered by lack of infrastructure. Rural Ireland is stagnant. It is hard to see a solution for this other than continued migration to the cities.
The days of getting a factory into Kanturk or wherever to make widgets and employ locals are long gone.
Ah yeah, the experts. Hopefully they changed staff since the ones in 2008 missed the biggest economic crash in history.
At the Old Moore’s Almanac again or is that Old Moore’s Armagnac ???
have your say