Waterford TD kicking up 'blue bloody murder' over 'dangerous' school bus stop

Waterford TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh said he had kicked up "blue bloody murder" to have a bus stop for school children on the N25 at Kiely’s Cross near Ardmore following protests by parents and school children.

Parents at the protests raised concerns that the stretch of road was extremely dangerous, saying that the stretch of road between Youghal and Dungarvan is notorious for accidents. The Waterford News & Star estimated that nearly 20 percent of the total population turned out to these protests.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) said that they were unaware that a school transport bus pick-up was located at the side of a busy national road. 

“Kiely's Cross is a high-speed rural section of road that is not suitable for a bus stop nor is it an appropriate location for a concentration of services as outlined in your submission,” said Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. 

Bringing up the issue in Dáil Éireann, Waterford TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh said that he is now aware that TII is taking the issue up with the Department of Education and the local council. He labelled the stretch as “dangerous” and warned that he did not want to “wait until there is an accident to arrive at a commonsensical solution to this problem".

“The main issue with this is that Kiely's Cross is on a dead-straight part of the N25. When I drove up to witness this in person and speak to the parents, I was doing just under 100 km/h but was still passed by three cars on that stretch of road. People fly on it. They should not be doing that speed, but they do.” 

In response to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh’s question, the Minister of State for Education, Thomas Byrne TD, said: “The safety of children on the school transport services is of paramount importance to the Department and Bus Éireann, and so it should be.

"Due to an increase in the volume of activity at the pickup point in question for the current school year, Bus Éireann has advised that the point is under assessment.” 

Deputy Byrne said that Bus Éireann would contact families directly when the assessment was completed.

“I know it is under assessment, as I have kicked up blue bloody murder to have it assessed,” Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said, warning that is “only a matter of time. One would want to see it to believe it.” 

“The cars do not have any place to pull up. There is a small, privately owned car park. Many of the cars are pulling up on the hard shoulders and the buses have to pull in. The three buses that arrived while I was there actually pulled into the turning lane, which leads to Ardmore. That is where they were setting the children down.” 

“It is on the right side of the road, so the situation is worse in the morning when the kids have to cross the road while cars are travelling at 100 km/h or more. 

"Let us add the dark mornings into that and how the place is prone to fog,” he added.

Speaking to the Waterford News & Star, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said that if the recommendations of the School Transport Review were put in place then the issue would be resolved by next September with the elimination of the nearest school eligibility criteria.

“But my worry is this is a dangerous situation now,” he said, “I don’t think it is good enough to say to parents that their problem will be solved [next September], when the solution is so obvious.” 

Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said that he would continue to follow up with Bus Éireann, the TII, NTA and relevant departments until the issue was resolved.

“It’s not to be confused with a school bus issue, it’s a road safety issue […] it’s a recipe for disaster.”