Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The phasing out of the three children for two seats rule will mean one seat per person with a seat belt. We have always believed that the pursuit of those two issues is important. Work had been ongoing before the tragic accident in Navan on both those issues. The one for one seating means we will have to find an extra 3,500 seats to provide every eligible child with his or her own seat and seat belt. We all wish to see the highest possible standards and would all work to those standards. The standards are set by the Department of Transport and we in the Department of Education and Science wish that those standards be followed to the highest possible level.

People feel strongly about seat belts, which would lead to a safer regime in the buses. That is why we have gone one step further than the directive, which came into law this month and says seat belts must be worn in all buses that have them. We wanted to go far beyond that to ensure that seat belts would be provided for each seat and each child. That underlines the importance my Department places on the allocation of a seat belt for each child. I do not wish to comment on any particular accident because there are ongoing Garda and other investigations which must be allowed to continue without any influence. As far as I am aware, there must be fire extinguishers on buses.

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