Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am glad to get opportunity to talk about this matter. I will start with drivers who are over 70. I have been looking for this for many years. I am a contractor, and my father was at it from 1956. We have a long record of service of taking children to school in Kilgarvan and Kenmare. I understand the plight of drivers when they reach 70. I had the finest drivers who had to park up and forget about it when they turned 70. I have asked for them to be tested medically, independently or whatever, to ensure that they are perfect in every way, because the safety of children is a priority. I am not trying to put them in any danger by asking for it. I know the drivers I let go are driving other vehicles for other people, doing other things rather than transporting schoolchildren, and they are still driving perfectly. Drivers in the USA and the UK operate beyond 70 years of age. I have seen it and inquired into it. The Minister of State needs to look at that.

The other thing relates to 20-year-old buses. The minute buses reach 20 years of age here, even though they are mechanically sound and pass the test, they are put off the road and are no longer suitable for Bus Éireann. More often than not, those buses are being bought, taken to the North of Ireland and used to provide the same service up there. That is absolutely scandalous.

There is another real problem that contractors face. If a driver gets sick tomorrow morning, I could get a loan of a driver no problem from Teddy McCarthy below in Sneem or from O'Callaghan Coaches in Killarney. However, I cannot do that because they have been vetted by those people, but they need to be Garda vetted by me as well in the space of maybe 12 hours, which is ridiculous. If they are Garda vetted and on Bus Éireann's list, surely that should do. What is the difference of driving in Kilgarvan, Sneem or Killarney? They have to be Garda vetted separately if they come to me.

We have problems in Cronin's Wood in Killarney where 250 houses are being built. They are having difficulty getting down into the Monastery, the Presentation Convent and those places. They are looking for transport and they are entitled it.

We were trying to get a bus service in the Headford area to take people to the school in Barraduff. That matter is with the Minister of State. I hope he can do something about it. They found a tenth child late in the day, and we have been told that we have to wait until next year. That is not fair on the parents and children involved. I ask the Minister of State to do what he can about this matter.

See this speech in context