Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 633: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding plans to replace older buses. [24038/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The average age of the Bus Éireann large capacity school bus is 16 years and the average age of all buses used for school transport is 11.5 years. It must be emphasised that an older bus does not mean an unsafe bus. No bus which is unsafe or dangerous is allowed onto the road to carry children. All vehicles operating under the school transport scheme are required to meet the statutory regulations as laid down by the Department of Transport. Where vehicles have over eight adult seats and are more than one year old, they are required to pass that Department's annual roadworthiness test.

In addition, Bus Éireann vehicles are subject to a programme of scheduled servicing under specified maintenance procedures to ensure that the highest safety standards are achieved. Contractors employed by Bus Éireann are contractually obliged to keep their nominated vehicle in a safe and roadworthy condition at all times.

Since 1999, Bus Éireann has purchased a large number of vehicles as part of an ongoing school bus fleet replacement programme to continually improve the age profile and condition of their school bus fleet. In addition, the Bus Éireann school bus fleet currently has some 400 large capacity buses that were transferred from the general service fleet into the dedicated school transport bus fleet. Over 250 of these buses were transferred in the period 1999-2003 and they represent another valuable source of replacement buses over this period. This investment has produced an improvement in the condition of the fleet generally and this fleet replacement programme, aimed at replacing older buses with more modern vehicles, is continuing.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 634: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding the study of comparable safety on school buses related to the various types of seat belts versus the compartmentalisation method. [24039/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Legislation regarding the fitting and wearing of seat belts in public service vehicles including school buses is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Transport. EU Directive 2003/20 requires seat belts to be used where they are fitted. This directive must be transposed into national law by 9 May 2006.

Separately, proposals to extend the requirement for seat belts in all new vehicles, except for city buses used in stage stop routes, have been developed at EU level. When the directive is adopted, all new school buses being registered from a future date will require to be fitted with seat belts.

The suitability of different restraint mechanisms is under active consideration by the Department of Education and Science in consultation with the Department of Transport and Bus Éireann. These considerations will be guided by expert advice.