Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

What we need the Minister of State to say and what the public and parents of children travelling on school buses would like to hear is that there is an urgency, plan and timescale for implementation. I did not detect in her reply evidence that anything has changed in the Department since the school bus crash in Meath. Is there a plan and a timescale for its implementation? Has the Minister of State carried out costings to assess the level of funding required to replace the fleet with seat belt fitted buses? Has it been determined in the Department whether there are buses suitable for retrofitting and, if so, how many such buses are in the fleet and what will it cost to equip them with seat belts?

While we appreciate there are constraints, we need to see that there is a sense of determination and purpose to ensure action is taken as quickly as possible. In a reply from the Department to the Joint Committee on Education and Science on 4 April 2005 following a discussion on school transport, it was indicated that a discussion document, Safer School Buses, was circulated in April 2002 by the vehicle standards section of the then Department of the Environment and Local Government, which subsequently transferred to the Department of Transport. The discussion document addressed many of the issues being considered, including the retrofitting of seat belts to buses. Does the Minister of State need to wait for further information? Is there not enough information in the Department to allow work to commence on the oldest, least safe buses and speed up the phasing out of three for two seating arrangements? The answer was known before the Meath crash which indicates a need for greater urgency.

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