Minister for Education Helen McEntee confirmed that no transport will be provided for pupils who live outside the school’s official catchment area.
Parents in Kildare Town are voicing serious concerns over the lack of school transport to Curragh Community College.
Labour TD Mark Wall has raised the issue, after it emerged that no school bus service is planned for students attending the school this September.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee confirmed that no transport will be provided for pupils who live outside the school’s official catchment area.
However, parents say they have no choice but to send their children to the Curragh, as other schools in the area are full.
Speaking to Kfm, Virginia Kinsella, whose child is entering third year, says there has never been an official Bus Éireann route for the school.
With no transport provided, families are forced to rely on carpooling - an arrangement that’s proving unreliable.
She described the situation as a “basic nightmare”, with children sometimes left waiting after school for lifts.
The projected enrolment at Curragh Community College this September is nearly 300 students.
One estate in Kildare Town alone has 12 pupils attending the school, not including those from nearby areas.
Virginia said Bus Éireann has provided temporary transport measures to other schools in the country under the school transport scheme.
She said she does not understand why similar support isn’t being offered in Kildare Town.
In addition to transport issues, there are growing concerns about the condition of the Curragh school building.
Parents have described it as “not fit for purpose”, with reports of classrooms in disrepair and external fire stairs becoming dangerously slippery when it rains.
Students are still waiting on the delivery of a promised new 1,000-pupil school at the Magee Barracks site in Kildare Town.
The facility has yet to break ground.
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