Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

One cannot assume that because a bus is old, ergo it is unsafe. We all want a younger fleet of public buses and Bus Éireann and the Department are achieving this by acquiring new buses and relatively new second-hand buses of no more than three or four years of age. The key question is whether we have good and rigorous safety and testing standards which deliver. The evidence to date is that this is the case. The number of school bus crashes, notwithstanding two terrible crashes in the past 12 months, is low by any international measure and school bus standards are high. My Department will take all necessary measures to improve the system. As the Deputy indicated, there is political support for the investment being made by the Department of Education and Science and the measures my Department will take to regulate this sector.

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