Parents and students last night still did not know whether there will be a bus service to a Catholic school sited in a loyalist area of north Belfast.
The staggered return of students to the Catholic Maintained Mercy College in Ballysillan begins tomorrow.
But a free bus service previously funded by a local charity, the Flax Trust, will no longer be available to the pupils, many of them from neighbouring Ardoyne.
When questioned whether there had been any progress in relation to providing a service to the pupils, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) said: “Currently there is no additional information available.”
Similarly, the Education Authority (EA) said it had no further information.
Under EA rules, free public transport is normally provided only to students living three miles or more from a school.
The Flax Trust has funded a free service for the last five years but said it could not longer afford to do so and that all parties knew from the middle of last year it would no longer be available.
There is no direct public transport option between Ardoyne and the school. Many of the pupils may have to walk across the interface and through the loyalist area, raising concerns for their safety, particularly as the evenings darken.
SDLP Councillor Paul McCusker said: “This is an issue of safety for kids travelling to school and it is unthinkable that the Education Authority, Minister Michelle McIlveen and Translink would allow the situation to remain unresolved.”
In a letter to parents, Principal Martin Moreland said that it was "with regret that I must inform you that there will no longer be free private transport for students to and from Mercy College".
"I am both disappointed and frustrated that, despite our best efforts, there has been no resolution to this," he wrote.
Marie Fusco, administrative manager with the Flax Trust, said the trust delivered funding totalling £635,985 over five years, longer than the original pledge of three years.
Ms Fusco said the school and the CCMS “were told exactly” from at least the middle of last year funding would no longer be available.
“There is not a limitless pot of money,” she added.
