Bus Éireann has terminated its contract with a bus operator in Co Laois after a newspaper reported he was employing a convicted sex offender as a school bus driver.
The Star reported yesterday that a man who acted as a driver for children attending St Francis special needs school in Portlaoise was jailed in 2002 for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Bus Éireann spokeswoman Erica Roseingrave emphasised the man was not an approved driver.
Bus Éireann, she said, had contracts with a number of bus operators across the State to take children to and from school. Contractors were obliged to provide Bus Éireann with a list of the drivers they proposed to use, and Bus Éireann then checked their references.
However, she said this driver's details were never provided to Bus Éireann by the Laois contractor, and therefore he was an unauthorised driver.
"An unauthorised driver operating a school bus constitutes a breach of contract between the contractor and Bus Éireann, and as a result we have terminated his contract," she said. "We took immediate corrective action."
General secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) John Carr said persons who worked as escorts on buses for special needs children required Garda clearance in advance, and he felt drivers should be similarly vetted.
The INTO has a number of members in the Portlaoise school to which the convicted sex offender was providing transport. Mr Carr said the issue was of concern to all INTO members.
Concern has also been expressed at what occurred in Laois by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) and Barnardo's.
The ISPCC said it believed the only way to ensure the safety of children was by putting a legislative obligation on employers and organisations to ensure any staff or volunteer working with children was Garda vetted.
Such legislation should be introduced as a matter of urgency, its chief executive Paul Gilligan said.
"Models of such legislation are available in Northern Ireland where, following the inquiry into the deaths of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, new legislative provisions are being introduced that place legal obligations on employers and statutory authorities to adequately vet and screen staff and volunteers who will be working with children."
Barnardo's director of advocacy Norah Gibbons urged the Government to introduce procedures which would make it mandatory for employers to carry out a background check on anyone working with children.
"Current arrangements are just not good enough. Our children deserve to be protected from all forms of abuse.
"And in the case of children with special needs who are even more vulnerable that onus is even greater."
While the Minister with responsibility for children Brian Lenihan said there were plans to expand the Garda vetting unit this year, there was as yet no vetting available to the majority of organisations working with children.
Mr Lenihan said he was concerned that not all those working with children were vetted but this would soon be addressed.
"Up to now that has not been the case, and it's something that has to be done.
"We have to get our vetting system to be more robust so that people can check out records of the Garda, but really a Garda check can never be conclusive.
"An employer has to take care and check out the references of any person who is offering to work with children."