Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

On the last point, my colleagues in the House have been involved in an enormous amount of work in this regard. The decision we made is based on EU standards and expert advice. I set this out in the note I made available to Members.

In the interests of clarity, this vehicle was not part of the school transport system. It is important to discern the difference between the two issues. The school transport system under the Department of Education and Science is operated through Bus Éireann which subcontracts a number of private hire companies. These are designated and operated within that system. This particular bus is in the private hire category. Anyone anywhere could hire the bus privately for a particular function, which was the case in this instance. The vehicle involved passed its roadworthiness test in 2005. These vehicles are subject to an annual roadworthiness test. This was carried out and completed properly.

In reply to Deputy Shortall, the services in question were not licensed under the Road Transport Act 1932 because it was a private hire arrangement. The legislation governing an operator's licence is derived from EU law. The 1932 Act deals with licensing for journeys etc. As this was a private hire arrangement, it was not licensed under the 1932 Act.

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