A Bus Eireann inspector has deemed a road off the main Glenville to Mallow road 'unsafe' for the school bus to travel on, resulting in a lengthy detour. On Tuesday, the inspector accompanied the school bus which takes students to Glenville primary school, on foot of a number of complaints raised about the state of the road. It's heavily potholed and, at one point, has a deep trench running along the edge. As a result of his first-hand inspection of the narrow road, he deemed it unsafe.

Bus Eireann confirmed that was the case and said that, in light of additional rainfall and the worsening conditions of parts of the road, they'd made arrangements to use another route. Children will still be collected at the same pick-up points but the diversion will lengthen the journey by some 2.5 km per trip. It would not cause any delay to pupils, they assured. They further advised that they don't intend returning the service to the old route until the relevant repair work is completed.

Parents however, say the diversion is more like six miles than 2.5km and that it means the bus driver having to double back on himself a number of times during the journey. One parent also said that it'll mean one family has to drive two miles to drop their children to the bus whereas they were picked up outside their home previously. They want the county council to carry out proper repairs to the road to allow the bus service revert to its original route.

Area road engineer Jim Moloney from Cork County Council, said they are aware of the problem and the road is in their programme to be done. A major upgrade is to be carried out this and next year but the money hasn't been released yet and the weather has to improve before the work can be done.

"We put it in our budget because we were conscious of it," he said. They had crews out filling potholes as a 'stop-gap measure' but the recent rainy weather made that unfeasible as the fill was just being washed out again, he explained. He did say however that they'd look at it again to see what they could do in light of Bus Eireann's decision to pull their school bus service from the route.

Deputy Tom Barry has been contacted about the matter by concerned parents and has taken the matter up with the council.

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