Plenty of talk on seatbelts but no action

THE fitting of seat belts on buses, and especially those used to transport schoolchildren, has been under discussion in the relevant Government quarters since 1999 but, to date, nothing has been done.

In 2003, the then Transport Minister, Seamus Brennan, said seat belts would be fitted to all new school buses.

At that time, the opposition was quick to point out that most of the bus fleet used for transporting children to and from school was made up of old vehicles so belts did not apply.