Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, correctly said that the school bus fleet has had a good record over the years. What Deputy Kenny said is also correct, last year has been worrying. There have been five incidents and in two of those children were killed. In another incident, children got out of the back of a bus and yesterday there could have been an enormous tragedy. We must count ourselves lucky after that. However, when we get such luck we must examine the issues carefully to try to avoid such difficulties in the future.

Both Bus Éireann and the Garda are investigating the causes of the fire yesterday. I cannot comment on the causes until those investigations have been completed but it is important that we find out what happened. The bus in question passed its annual roadworthiness test in August and was checked as part of the maintenance programme at the end of March. It was not due to lack of examination. The average age of the bus fleet is 11 years, when the Bus Éireann and private buses are combined, but the average age of the Bus Éireann fleet is higher, as the Deputy said. Buses have a long lifespan in all countries. It is not the age but the roadworthiness of a bus that matters.

The procedures for the bus fleet have been followed. We have been involved, in conjunction with the local authorities and the fire service, in conducting full examinations and checks of all these issues. Deputy Kenny asked if I am happy that everything is all right after five incidents, and, frankly, no, I am not. I spoke to the Minister today and I asked him, in conjunction with his officials, to order a full systems review of the entire process, to examine the criteria and to examine how we do our business in this area. We will not be lucky all the time and we have not been lucky previously so it is better that we examine it. Perhaps the system is fine but I am not an authority on it. We must examine all the processes and procedures in place.

One matter that was brought to my attention some time ago is that roadworthiness checks on buses are carried out by CIE staff. The view is that it would not be possible to have thousands of buses checked outside CIE. However, auditing oneself is not good practice in any area. This should be examined. Again, it might be unavoidable but the entire process should be examined. I discussed this earlier with the Minister, Deputy Cullen, and he will order that it happens today.

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