A new student travel card giving discounts on public transport to secondary students was launched this morning.
The idea for the Student Travelcard arose when a national forum for young people identified the cost of public transport as a major issue.
They concluded that the existing Student Travelcard - which any student can apply for – was too heavily targeted at third level and was very complicated for secondary school pupils to obtain.
"According to the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, we are children up to the age of 18 and we think it's unfair that we have to pay adult fares between 16 and 17," said Ali Jack (17), a member of the Children's and Young People's Forum.
Speaking at the launch in Connolly Station, Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews said that the new card will be more accessible to second-level students. "Schools have been supplied with a Student Travelcard agent pack and can now process applications for students in their own schools," he said.
Patrick Caulfield - who is a student in Coolmine Community School where their student council has been selling the original Student Travelcard for years - welcomed the new card.
"The one thing holding us back from selling the card is that a lot of students felt it was aimed at third level students. Now that this new card is clearly aimed at second level students, we think we will sell even more cards," he said.
The launch of the new card, which gives discounts of up to 40 per cent on public transport, was supported by Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann and Luas. The cards will be sold directly by secondary school students.