By Claire Corrigan
A distressed young Mullingar mother contacted Topic this week explaining that her five-years-old son, who has been diagnosed with Autism, has missed the first three weeks of his school year because despite promises, there is no transport currently available to the youngster, to get him to school.
Diane Kelly, who is also mother to one-year-old Ollie and three-year-old Ava, said transport had not been provided for her son Jack, meaning the young boy has yet to start school.
“He was in a pre-school at St. Mary’s for two years and we couldn’t get him into Saplings or any school nearer, so we enrolled him into Kilbeggan last year under the condition that transport would be provided for him and we were assured that there would be. A couple of days before he was due to start, I rang to see if the transport had been organised and it wasn’t. I was told it would take another few days, so I said I’d bring him over myself the first day.”
Jack is one of five hundred children with special needs who were waiting on a school bus place at the start of this academic year. Figures released to Fianna Fáil last week showed that more than 2,700 applications for school transport for children with special educational needs were accepted for the 2018/19 school year. But children like Jack in Mullingar were part of the five hundred still waiting for a school bus place.
TRAVELLING DIFFICULTY
Diane said that travelling with Jack is difficult as he will not remain in his car seat. “He gets out of his car seat. The first day of school I brought him over myself and I really struggled to get him back into the car coming home which is usually the way. He doesn’t do transitions very well. He has Autism and ADHD and he is physically quite strong and he can be stubborn. He’s hard to handle.”
Diane contacted Bus Éireann for an update to find out what the situation was with Jack’s bus. “I wanted to find out where the transport was and when it was coming. On Tuesday, (3 September) the Principal asked me if I could bring Jack over, but I am not in a position to bring him to school because I can’t fit three car seats in my car for my three kids. The other five little boys in his class are on the school run provided by Bus Éireann and I rang and asked them why he wasn’t on that bus. I was told that if the driver went to Mullingar from Kinnegad before Rochfortbridge, Tyrrellspass and Kilbeggan, that he would be late to collect the little boy that goes home at 3pm. The obvious answer to that is to get two buses running- one for the 2pm and one for the 3pm and not leave my little boy at home” she stated.
Diane has not received any answers about their difficult situation and Jack is still without transport. “I said that to them last week, and then I was told to ring somebody else and I just feel like I am getting fobbed off for the last three weeks now. I explained to the bus company that Jack would have to be in a proper seat and will have an escort with him. I never bring Jack in a car on my own anymore. We can’t bring him with the other two kids – Tommy (Diane’s husband) has to bring the other two children and I will bring Jack with me. They were offering me a grant to bring him, but I physically can’t bring him.”
REALLY UPSETTING
“All I want is to see my little boy in school,” she said. “Everyone else is in school and it’s just really upsetting,” she told Topic tearfully. “If someone could tell me, then at least I’d know, but I don’t know anything now. I don’t know where to go from here. I’ve never went to the papers about anything in my life, but I’ve never been pushed like this before.”
She said that as a mother of three young children, she was struggling to cope. “He needs to be in school and needs a routine like everyone else. I don’t know who is not doing their job but it’s leaving life very difficult for us. It’s affecting all of us. Tommy was considering going to Bus Éireann himself to see if he could get anything done.”
Diane, who lives with her family in Ardleigh, moved from Greenpark recently, which also took its toll on their young son. “Change is massive with Jack so we had to move and he was starting in a new school and we were very stressed. I know I’m going to look back in years to come and say ‘How did I deal with all that’ because it is really hard. The last few years have Diane continued: “I feel like nobody is listening to me.”
“The Department of Transport and Bus Éireann are not doing their job. I’m telling the same story and I feel like I’m talking to somebody new every time. They said they put a taxi and a mini-bus out for tender but that nobody took it. I asked them where do we go from here and was told to go back to the Special Education Needs Organiser to see if she gets a place for the child nearer to where we are living but she told me that the classes are full. My point is that there has to be some way that he can go to school. He’s expected to just stay at home as it is,” she concluded.
