Earlier this year, the government announced it was waiving school transport fees for a year. As a result, Bus Eireann, which operates the scheme, has advised that by the closing date of 29th July, it had received a record 130,000 applications for school bus tickets. 44,300 of these were from first time applicants.

Todate, Bus Eireann have issued more than 100,000 tickets. However, they have advised that "regrettably the unprecedented number of new applications ... has led to some delays... and they would "issue more tickets as soon as extra buses and drivers are sourced and become available".

The unprecedented level of applications appears to be particularly impacting those who children had received consessionary tickets in recent years. Concessionary tickets were traditionally issued to pupils who did not necessarily meet the criteria for the scheme, as perhaps they weren't attending their nearest school, but there was capacity on the bus to facilitate them. Some parents who had in previous years received such tickets have been refused this year with some parents reporting that they were told when they phoned, that those who applied for concessionary tickets this year were put into a lotto.

With schools returning next week, thousands of families are still waiting to find out if they will receive school bus tickets this year or if they will have to find alternative transport to school

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