Farrelly believed that this "has been the story of Kildare for the past 30 years".
Social Democrats and Kildare North TD Aidan Farrelly has said that issues regarding school transport and school places in the county are getting "worse every year".
Deputy Farrelly said he had heard from "too many people who still don’t have a school place throughout the county - or a school bus".
He also detailed how him and other Kildare North TDs received a "desperate email" from a parent whose child has yet to secure a place in secondary school.
Farrelly cited how Kildare's population grew by 11% or 25,270 people between the census in 2016 and the one in 2022.
And in that time, most towns and villages in the county saw an average increase of 20%.
He said he fully expected that the census in 2027 will tell that an even greater increase has taken place since then.
“When it comes to school bus places the situation is even more acute. My office has been inundated with queries from parents whose children have not secured a place on a bus in advance of the school year.
“It’s quite clear that the pressure on the service is such that it has become dysfunctional. Even children who had a place on the bus last year, or who have siblings who are on the bus going to the same school are being denied places for the coming year."
“Even Bus Eireann, which administers the service, knows this is fundamentally a service that is not resourced to match the demands on it. In recent weeks when they respond to our queries on behalf of parents, they are asking us to ‘please contact the Department of Education and Youth directly with regard to future queries on providing additional capacity’.
"They know that only a decisive intervention by the Minister will solve this problem."
The Deputy concluded that this "has been the story of Kildare for the past 30 years, a time when the county’s population has doubled".
The full interview with Deputy Farrelly from Kildare Today can be heard below:
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