Children as young as 10 are vandalising seat belts provided on school buses, while a lack of Government enforcement means many pupils are not wearing seat belts provided for them, bus operators claimed yesterday.
However, the Government has also warned that parents will have to pay damages or see their children barred from the transport system if they engage in such behaviour.
Mike Goodliffe, general manager of the 1,000- member Private Association of Motor Bus Owners, said it remains unclear who would be legally responsible should a crash occur.
He said operators could not be expected to enforce seat belt-wearing among children and teenagers. Incidents of seat belts being cut and ripped were commonplace, he said.
Mr Goodliffe was commenting on a recent survey of 150 school routes by Bus Éireann inspectors. This found that 25 per cent of 1,453 primary pupils surveyed did not wear the seat belts. Moreover, as many as 75 per cent of 2,551 second-level pupils were not wearing their seat belts. This is despite a new law requiring every student to wear a seat belt, which was introduced following the Navan school bus crash in 2005 in which five teenage girls died.
"There are a lot of scamps now at primary level, aged as young as 10, who are slashing seat belts . . . there are operators replacing and repairing seat belts every day of the year," Mr Goodliffe said.
"It is physically impossible for the bus driver to police seat belt wearing. We've asked the Department of Education for clarification on the legal situation should an accident arise. All we're told is that the courts will decide."
At the Virginia Agriculture Show in Co Cavan, Minister of State for Education Seán Haughey said parents would have to pay damages or see their children barred from the transport system if they vandalised buses or seat belts.
He said anti-social behaviour on buses would not be tolerated and CCTV cameras were being used to monitor the problem.
Mr Haughey added that anti-social behaviour included things such as vandalism of seat belts and abuse of drivers. "The vast majority of pupils travelling on school buses respect the bus property and value the service. However in recent times there have been a number of incidents which have caused concern.
"A student can be put off a bus temporarily or indeed permanently . . . so there are strict practices in place and strict sanctions for that."
Breaches of the guidelines were also reported to the school principal and gardaí could also be alerted, he said.