At a depot in Newcastle West, the decision to step away from school transport was not made lightly. paudie kenneally said the numbers had finally stopped working, and with them came the end of 13 schoolbus runs that he had carried for years.
For the coach operator, the issue was not a single bad week or one expensive refuel. It was the steady pressure of fuel costs and tax on fuel, which he said had become crippling for the business. The result is immediate for the families who depended on the service, and personal for a man whose family name has been tied to driving children for decades.
Why did Paudie Kenneally pull out of the school runs?
paudie kenneally said he would not keep working at a loss. “I’m not going to go bankrupt to cover school runs for Bus Éireann or anyone, ” he said, drawing a line under the routes that had become impossible to sustain.
He described the choice as heartbreaking, especially because children were at the center of it. “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, ” he said. He added that he had given prior notice that he would not operate the school routes beyond the Easter holidays.
What does this mean for families and children?
The loss of a schoolbus run is never only a business decision. In this case, it touches families who rely on a familiar driver and a stable routine. Kenneally said he drives many children with special educational needs, including autistic children who do not like change and prefer to see the same bus driver.
That detail matters because transport is not just a ride to school; for some children, it is part of the rhythm that makes the day manageable. paudie kenneally said he has been driving children all his life, and that his father did the same before him. The family has been in the business for 43 years, and the break from the school routes carries that history with it.
How is fuel pressure reshaping the business?
The coach operator said the operating costs had gone too high. He dismissed the Government’s fuel support package as something that would not change his mind, saying the 10 cent reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel would be “evaporated straightaway. ”
He also criticized the broader pattern of relief, saying the middle class were being squeezed and that “the middle are paying everything. ” He pointed to the reduction in excise duty on private aircraft fuel approved last month, calling it a kick in the teeth to everyone outside that group.
For paudie kenneally, the decision was not emotional in the moment, but practical. “I don’t need the stress and pressure of this anymore, ” he said. “It was very easy to make a decision to make, the numbers don’t add up. ”
What will Kenneally Coach Hire keep operating?
Even with the school runs ending, the business is not closing. Kenneally said his company, Kenneally Coach Hire, employs 17 staff and operates a fleet of 25 buses. He will continue to run services for active retirement groups, tourists, HSE, and private hire work.
That leaves the company in an uneasy middle ground: still active, but no longer serving one of the most sensitive parts of its work. The school routes, he said, were “a terror to walk away from, ” and he said he has been driving second-generation children to school, which made the decision especially upsetting.
What wider response is building around fuel costs?
There is also a wider protest mood in the transport sector. James Carolan of Carolan Coaches, based in Nobber, Co Meath, said he would not be running any buses on Wednesday, April 15, in protest at high fuel prices. He described the Government’s response to protestors as “an absolute disgrace. ” Carolan Coaches had three buses in the blockade on O’Connell Street last week.
paudie kenneally said he supported his neighbours, friends, colleagues and customers who took part in last week’s blockade at a fuel terminal at Foynes village. In that sense, his exit from the schoolbus runs sits inside a larger warning from the road: when fuel costs keep rising and support feels thin, the people carrying schoolchildren, workers, and community groups may decide they can no longer carry on.
And so the buses in Newcastle West still exist, the staff are still there, and the wheels will keep turning on other routes. But for the children who once waited for the same driver and the same bus each morning, paudie kenneally’s decision leaves one unanswered question: how many more familiar journeys can survive the cost of fuel?
