Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

198. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of the 51% of buses inspected by the Road Safety Authority which failed roadside safety checks, as reported recently by RTÉ, awarded contracts under the school transport scheme; and the number of the buses inspected which were carrying schoolchildren in County Louth. [37376/18]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

199. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of the safety regime in Bus Éireann further to his recent comments that Bus Éireann has assured his Department that a robust safety regime is in place; and the assurances given with reference to the buses operating under the school transport scheme. [37377/18]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

200. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of buses operating under the school transport scheme in County Louth; the number of these buses that have been inspected for roadworthiness in the past 12, 24 and 36 months, respectively; and the outcome of these inspections. [37378/18]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

201. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the concerns raised by the chairperson of the Road Safety Authority in July 2017 regarding the roadworthiness of buses operating under the school transport scheme; the measures undertaken to address these concerns at that time; and if he is satisfied that these concerns were sufficiently addressed. [37379/18]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

202. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to undertake an audit by county of buses contracted under the school transport scheme to ensure such buses meet roadworthiness standards. [37380/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to takes Questions Nos. 198 to 202, inclusive, together.

School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2017/18 school year over 117,000 children, including over 12,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 4,500 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually at a total cost of almost €190 million in 2017.

There are 11 Bus Éireann vehicles operating to various schools in County Louth and there are 145 Contractor’s vehicles operating to various schools in County Louth.

In order to be considered roadworthy a bus must pass an annual Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness Test (CVRT), conducted under the auspices of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) at approved test centres around the country. Bus Éireann school transport providers are contractually obliged to ensure that their vehicle has an up to date roadworthiness certificate issued by an RSA accredited test centre when a contract is signed. The contractor is obliged to keep their roadworthiness certificate current and up to date at all times and provide Bus Éireann with evidence of this.

All school buses in service - procured by Bus Éireann to provide services under the School Transport Scheme - that are subject to roadside inspections, must have current roadworthiness certification at the time of inspection.

A detailed contract is put in place for all contracted services – which includes numerous safety-related items. There is a strict process in place before any vehicle or driver is added to the approved list for provision of services under the School Transport Scheme. Required documentation is checked and copies are held by Bus Éireann offices. This documentation includes insurance and insurance indemnity, valid Road Passenger Transport Operator Licence (with required vehicles added), valid Certificate of Roadworthiness (CRW), appropriate valid Public Service Vehicle licence (large/small) (PSV) and evidence of Tax Clearance.

Bus Éireann contracts also include a stipulation that requires all contractors to have planned maintenance programmes, with checking intervals of not more than six weeks. Every Contractor is also responsible as an individual bus operator, licensed by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, to ensure they comply with legislation in all respects.

In addition to statutory requirements, Bus Éireann arranges for additional sample auditing of contractors vehicles operating under the Scheme, throughout the year. These additional quality assurance checks are carried out by independent vehicle inspection auditors, on both a targeted and random basis. Almost one in five buses contracted to the School Transport Scheme are audited under these quality assurance checks, which are designed to monitor the condition and roadworthiness status of each vehicle checked.

Any vehicles that fall short of the standards required during the audits are immediately withdrawn from further service until all identified issues are rectified by the contractor. If contractors are found not to have carried out the required improvements to their fleet and systems, they face penalties up to and including termination of contract.

Figures recently released to RTÉ under FOI stated that 51% of the buses inspected by the RSA in the past year failed roadside safety checks. Almost a third of them were found to have had major or dangerous defects. It should be noted the figures do not exclusively pertain to operators contracted on the School Transport Scheme. Many buses included in the figures were operating on privately engaged school services or other private hire work at the time of inspection. The RSA have also acknowledged that the inspections were targeted at operators of known concern and the published figures reflect this.

Bus Éireann have robust requirements and checks in place to ensure a high level of safety at all times and in this regard they will be issuing a communication to TDs and Senators in the coming days to provide information on these safety requirements and checks.