Parents whose children are being denied school bus tickets, are being forced to consider giving up their jobs.
That's the claim from one Longford Councillor who says he's dealing with a family that is being left in a disgraceful situation because of a complete lack of flexibility.
His comments come after it was confirmed that 339 children in Longford, Leitrim, Roscommon, Cavan and Monaghan had no access to school transport because of late payment alone.
Since the end of October, the Department of Education has confirmed that 50 of those pupils whose applications or payments were late, have secured a ticket as capacity has become available.
16 pupils have been accommodated with a place on school transport in Leitrim, 14 in Monaghan, 12 in Cavan, 5 in Roscommon and 3 in Longford.
However, Cllr Paraic Brady says there is not enough flexibility within the system and it's completely unfair
He says some parents have even been told that their child is in a lottery for a bus seat - leaving families in very uncertain situations.
In a statement from the Department of Education, a spokesperson says that late applications or late payments for school bus tickets cannot be guaranteed a seat and will only be allocated a seat if capacity is available - if no capacity becomes available, a full refund will be issued.
