Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I join the Minister in commending the emergency services on the work they did yesterday. When I visited the hospital in Tullamore just after lunch yesterday, it was amazing to see, a few short hours after such a terrible accident, how effectively matters were being dealt with in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. On the question of who licenses the buses, which is what Deputy Olivia Mitchell was asking, that is done from Ireland. They are licensed to carry a certain number of pupils. I do not know how many children were on the bus yesterday. If a bus is licensed to carry X number of pupils, surely carrying more than that number would be in breach of the licence. I am curious as to what testing is done. In the school transportation system we always take into account the fact there are sports bags and school bags. Is account taken of that in terms of the number of students who can travel on these private buses and what is the storage capacity on such buses?

Can the Minister give an assurance that his Department's manual is fully implemented by local authorities in terms of the inspection of vehicles? Is he satisfied this is done in the same manner in each county? Does he envisage any difficulties? What I cannot get to the bottom of is how we can tolerate a difference in buses carrying children, whether to school, a hurling match or whatever. I accept the points being made by the Minister in regard to free trade. Certainly in County Offaly and, perhaps, in County Laois I have never seen a company from Poland, Portugal or wherever coming in to operate a bus to bingo or a bus to school. It is very much a localised service. From a competition perspective, the only competition is internal because it is not a particularly profitable business.

The Minister said he feels strongly that the rule that applies to the school bus fleet should apply to the private bus fleet also. Will the Minister immediately take this to the next level, that is, the EU, with a view to its implementation? In the interim can we have a system where any bus carrying children would be subject to the same rigorous inspections as in the school transportation system? I take the point that those buses that may be used to transport children could be used at night for other purposes. From a child's safety perspective our first priority should be to ensure the buses are safe when carrying children and that seat belts are put in place for use by children. There is no legislation requiring that seat belts be in place for adults on buses.

I ask the Minister to immediately seek to have Directive 2003/20 implemented for all vehicles carrying children. How rigorous is the annual inspection carried out in September? While we do not know all the details of yesterday's accident, are buses inspected for rust and, if found, would it mean a bus was not roadworthy? That is an important point which seems to have come to light yesterday. Will the investigation include an examination of the condition of the road, which was an issue at Kentstown and in the accident yesterday? While the Minister has said there will be a Garda investigation will there also be a Department of Transport investigation? I note the Minister is nodding "No". Does that mean the Garda will investigate every aspect of the accident, including the testing? The Minister's Department has a responsibility to ensure the testing standard is rigorous. The Garda can investigate that in terms of what happened in Clara yesterday but it is not in a position to check the rigours of testing nationally. After the accident at Kentstown our concentration was very much on the school transportation service and perhaps the private bus issue did not occur to anybody. I do not want to come back here next year after, perhaps, another tragedy looking at other areas we neglected because we did not look at the whole issue.

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