Political reaction: Financial considerations will not stand in the way of improving school bus safety if a clear course of action emerges from the investigations into the Meath bus crash, the Government said yesterday.
A Government spokeswoman said last night that they would wait for the reports of those investigations before deciding how to proceed. "If there were a way of guaranteeing 100 per cent safety for 100 per cent of the children travelling on school buses then money would not be an issue," she said.
However, in the light of reports that research in other countries had suggested seat-belts in buses might create other injury hazards in the event of a crash, the Government would await the reports of the investigations into the Meath crash.
"If there was a way to solve this problem we would. It would not be a question of money," she said.
The Labour education spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan yesterday called for a supplementary estimate to be introduced in the Dáil to fund the full replacement of the school bus fleet. The Government commitment to phase out the existing fleet within three years was "not good enough".
The Minister for Transport Martin Cullen warned last night against a "rush to judgment" on how to respond to the tragedy, saying he wanted to wait for the reports on the accident.
Speaking of school buses, "the safety record has been impeccable but we must all learn lessons," he said. He said bus travel had been one of the safest ways of travelling. "Looking at the statistics it has been extraordinarily safe." He said the school bus fleet had become a lot younger in recent years.
"There are clearly issues in all of this that arise out of this appalling tragedy that we have to look at," he said on RTÉ's Six One news programme. "To rush to judgment is probably the wrong thing to do. There are technical issues that need to be resolved."
Ms O'Sullivan yesterday called on the Government to commit itself to replacing the school bus fleet. "This is the only way to guarantee an acceptable standard of safety in the school transport system," she said.
She said the attitude that old coaches that are no longer regarded as suitable for use in the general bus system were an acceptable mode of transport for schoolchildren must end.
"This is, in effect, the only way to address in a comprehensive manner all of the safety issues that have been so tragically highlighted by the Co Meath school bus crash, including the 'three for two' seating arrangements and the issue of seat-belts."
She said the plan to phase out "three for two" seating over three years "is simply not good enough. This would be nine years after the initiative was first recommended by an Oireachtas Committee."