Gardai step in to support Barnardos bus service
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A VITAL minibus service for young children who attend a pre-school in Barnardos in Millbrook Lawns, Tallaght, was at risk of being temporarily stopped until local gardai stepped in to help.
Eddie Potts is the bus driver for the service, which is provided to 15 children from around the Tallaght area, however last November he injured his wrist and was out of work for several months.
Garda Chris O'Callaghan, Mark Brennan (Project Leader Barnardos) and Eddie Potts (Barnardos Bus Driver)
While the popular bus driver was recuperating, Mark Brennan from Barnardos Millbrook was trying to find a way to ensure the bus service, which transports children between the ages of two-and-a-half and five-years-old, could keep running.
“I was worried about the kids coming into the pre-school, because if the bus is off the road, then the kids can’t come,” Mr Brennan told The Echo.
“We were looking at hiring a bus or a coach, but it would’ve been around €200 a day and we couldn’t afford that.
“Someone gave me a tip that the guards in Tallaght had a community bus, so I rang them up.”
Garda Chris O’Callaghan, a community guard who covers Brookfield and Mac Uilliam, answered Mr Brennan’s call and he was happy to help.
Garda O’Callaghan said: “Whenever we can help, we will in every way. We were very enthusiastic about getting involved, it was just a case of working out the logistics.”
South Dublin County Council had recently sponsored a community bus for Tallaght Garda Station, and after recruiting colleagues who had the correct licence to drive a minibus, Garda O’Callaghan assembled a team of eight gardai to drive it.
The gardai took turns driving the children to and from the pre-school in the community bus from November until March.
Mr Brennan said: “When I rang up, the best I was hoping for was that there might be someone on duty who had the right licence and could drive the bus – I never dreamed that they would set it up with a regular schedule.
“Chris organised a rota system, and there were times when he and his colleagues couldn’t organise a guard with a minivan licence, so they’d come in on their days off when we were stuck.
“The kids got really fond of the guards. Some of the children and their families’ experience of the guards would be conflictual, but with this they had a really positive experience.”
The Barnardos pre-school is referral based, and some of the issues that affect the parents of the children who attend include addiction, domestic violence, poor mental health and poverty. The service aims to give support and assistance to them.
“The service is vital for the children,” explained Mr Brennan. “If the bus isn’t on the road, most of them wouldn’t make it down. We know from experience that attendance plummets when the bus isn’t running.”
Other aspects of the service that Tallaght gardai helped Barnardos Millbrook with included collecting and delivering donations of furniture and large household appliances around the county, but the most fulfilling aspect of their work was helping the children.
Garda O’Callaghan said: “You don’t really know what to expect, but when you meet the kids and realise how great they are and how important the service is, you want to help them and be a part of it.
“They took to us as well as we took to them. A lot of them are going through a difficult time, but their personalities are infectious.”
Mr Potts returned to work in March, and the children were delighted to see him again, but they still have positive memories of the help that local gardai provided – and Garda O’Callaghan said he plans to continue to strengthen the link between Barnardos Millbrook and local community gardai.
Mr Brennan added: “What they did was incredibly valuable. It could be years and years before the impact of this is seen – we could’ve lost those kids completely from the service if they didn’t have the bus, and it would’ve affected them in the long-term.”
The CEO of Barnardos Ireland, Suzanne Connolly, recently sent a letter to the Assistant Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Region, Anne Marie Cagney, to acknowledge the work that Tallaght gardai carried out to help the Millbrook Lawns service.
