Calls for School Wardens To Be Reintroduced Despite Dangers In The Job

A local councillor says school wardens have a dangerous job but an important.

More commonly known as lollipop men and women, 130 school wardens say they have reported incidents and accidents to local authorities over the last two years.

An RTE report found one warden in Wexford who said their arm was struck by a driver who failed to stop at the crossing.

Independent Councillor Jackser Owens has been a school warden and says he has seen the dangerous side of the job:

"I've had my lollipop broken in half with cars and I've had near misses and all so it is dangerous.

"But to be there in the morning, meeting the children and their parents and you know they're safe in school and you know they're getting home afterwards, that's the school warden's job.

"To make it safer for all the parents and children, that's the priority.

"A school warden gets paid 14 euro an hour for 2 hours a day or 10 hours a week. It's ridiculous.

"When the school is off, they don't get paid, you don't get much time off either so it's a dangerous job but it's an important job."

The council is being urged to re-employ school wardens to help children get to school safely.

3 wardens were employed to help children cross the road by St Aidan's School in Enniscorthy but they were let go when traffic calming measures were introduced instead.

However, Councillor Owens says having a real life person there keeps kids out of danger:

"We've lost 3 wardens in the middle of 1,000 children in the middle of the Nunnery Road because they put down some pencils but that won't save anybody."

I'm just saying to the Roads Authority, who took away all the school wardens to save money, that's down to Eamon Hore and them, lives are more important than money."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.