Bus Éireann and the Garda have opened investigations after a teenage boy fell from a schoolbus in Co Monaghan earlier this week, it has emerged.
The boy apparently fell through the emergency door of the bus at around 4pm on Monday on the Keady road near the village of Oram.
Shane McEntee, Fine Gael
His condition at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin was described by a spokeswoman today as stable.
A spokesman for Bus Éireann said the bus, which had 16 children on board, was travelling from Castleblayney College along the Keady road and had turned left to go through the village of Oram. At that point, the bus driver heard the buzzer that signalled the emergency door was open.
"He immediately stopped the bus and got out. He walked back and found a child on the road, who was still conscious," the spokesman said.
The boy, who is thought to be 13 or 14, was taken by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda, but was later transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, the spokesman said.
"The bus is still in the possession of the gardaí," the spokesman said, adding the 50-seater bus had seatbelts fitted for all passengers.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said today the bus was only travelling at around 15 km/h when the incident happened. He said Bus Éireann had written to the parents of all the children using the service asking them to ensure their children used the seatbelts.
Mr Cullen said that despite a "bad run" recently, Ireland's bus safety record was one of the best in the world. "We have had a pretty bad run in the last 12 months, I have to accept that and these factors have pushed us to look at this."
The safety review of the school bus system announced recently by the Taoiseach would help to further improve this record, he insisted.
The review was ordered after a fire gutted a school bus in Co Westmeath. The bus, which had just been serviced, was taking 32 children to Athboy Community School. No one was injured.
Last month, 15-year-old Michael White, from Clara, Co Offaly, died when a school bus crashed.
Five teenage girls died in May last year when the Bus Éireann school bus they were travelling in crashed on the Navan to Kentstown Road in Co Meath.
Also last year, a Bus Éireann school bus caught fire as it travelled from Drogheda in Co Louth to Garristown, Co Meath, to pick up school children.
Fine Gael road safety spokesman Shane McEntee said he had "little confidence" in the Taoiseach's commitment to improve safety levels on Bus Éireann school vehicles after he had learned that "no one in Government has bothered to contact Bus Éireann" about the Taoiseach's safety review.
"Fine Gael called for an independent audit of Bus Éireann's vehicle testing systems this week. The Taoiseach told the Dáil that he supports such an audit," he said.
"However, when Fine Gael contacted Bus Éireann today, they confirmed there had been no formal communication from the Government concerning an independent audit. I am concerned that the Taoiseach might be talking about an internal audit which is already being conducted by Bus Éireann, and which is far from independent," the Meath TD MrMcEntee said.
"The Taoiseach and the Government have a responsibility to ensure that no child is ever again placed in a position of danger on a school bus. But it looks like the Taoiseach's commitment to improve safety levels on Bus Éireann vehicles is just another empty promise."