A well-known coach operator said he has pulled out of 13 schoolbus runs because the cost of fuel and tax on fuel were crippling his business.
Paudie Kenneally, of Kenneally Coach Hire, Newcastle West, Limerick, said: “I’m not going to go bankrupt to cover school runs for Bus Éireann or anyone.”
“I feel sorry for our kids using our service, but this is now a race to the bottom, and I won’t be working like that,” added Kenneally.
Asked what he would say to parents and pupils who require school transport, he replied: “Look, that is the heartbreaking part of it, I am driving children all my life, my father before me, we’re in the business 43 years.”
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“I drive a lot of children with special educational needs, and autistic children who don’t like change, who like to see the same bus driver – you’d be mad about them,” he said.
Kenneally said he gave Bus Éireann prior notice that he would not operate the school routes beyond the Easter holidays, adding that a fuel support package unveiled by the Government would not change his mind.
“I don’t need the stress and pressure of this any more. It was very easy to make a decision to make, the numbers don’t add up,” he said.
“The operating costs are gone too high, and this 10 cent [reduction on excise duty on a litre of petrol and diesel] is only a waste of time, it will be evaporated straight away.
“The biggest problem we have in Ireland is that the middle class are being squeezed, and the middle are paying everything.”
He said a 16.5 per cent cut to excise duty on private aircraft fuel approved by the Government last month, was a kick in the teeth to everyone outside of that demographic group. “If you have a private jet or a helicopter are you worried about the price of fuel?”
The Limerick coach operator said he supported his neighbours, friends, colleagues and customers who took part in last week’s blockade at a fuel terminal at Foynes village.
Kenneally said his late father, David Kenneally, who began their schoolbus service 43 years ago, would have made the same decision that he has now made: “He’s like me, he’s a figures man, one plus one has to make two.”
Kenneally, who employs 17 staff and operates a fleet of 25 buses, said he would continue to operate bus services for active retirement groups, tourists, HSE, and private hire services.
“It’s a terror to walk away from the school runs, I’ve been driving second generation kids to school, it’s very upsetting.”
