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Windswept peninsula backs bus
shelter call
04.02.08
A WINDSWEPT Inishowen
community has welcomed a call for the provision of
proper bus shelters at pick-up points for
schoolchildren.
The residents of Three Trees, Quigley's Point, got
together almost two decades ago to erect two
makeshift bus shelters for their school-going
children.
But today, the two roadside structures are looking
decidedly Dickensian around their wood-chipped edges
- in stark contrast with an Ireland of the 21st
Century. |
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Three Trees resident
Gary Deery told InishowenNews.com yesterday that
local families got together and built the shelters
to protect their children from the rain and wind
coming off the Foyle.
"At that time there were about |
twenty local children
going to school and they needed somewhere to shelter
when they were waiting on the bus especially in the
winter. We had to put the shelters up ourselves
because it didn't look like anyone else was going to
do it for us," said Mr. Deery. "The children have
all grown up now but these shelters are still used
by young people and the elderly waiting on buses.
It's about time we had some decent bus shelters for
them."
Mr. Deery's comments follow similar calls last week
from Donegal Sinn Féin members Senator Pearse
Doherty and Cllr. Padraig MacLochlainn.
Senator Doherty told the Seanad that thousands of
schoolchildren, particularly in rural areas, were
being forced to wait for school buses with no
shelter.
"This often leads to school children, particularly
in the winter months, arriving to school cold and
wet. This, in turn, has a detrimental effect, not
just to children’s health but also to their
concentration levels and their ability to learn," he
said.
He called on the Government to erect good quality
bus shelters and emulate the company Adshel by
selling advertising space on them. He said the
Government could then plough back the profits into
the provision of top quality public transport
infrastructure. |
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