Contractor who employed sex offender still working route

A BUS contractor who employed a convicted sex offender as a driver was still ferrying children to and from a special needs school this week.

Bus Éireann insisted the contract for St Francis’ School in Portlaoise was cancelled last Friday after it emerged the company owner employed the sex offender, who was a relative.

Vehicles owned by the contractor were spotted picking up pupils at the school on Monday and Tuesday. The contractor himself was pictured picking up a child on Wednesday.

He said it was a private hire and that he no longer worked for Bus Éireann.

Initially, Bus Éireann said the company had four other school run contracts and that only one, St Francis’, was cancelled immediately.

But then a Bus Éireann spokesperson was reported as saying the other contracts were later cancelled because of another breach.

“We have ceased the contracts ... all of his contracts. He has been notified of that and we have no longer got any commercial involvement with him on any level,” the spokesperson said.

There were calls for mandatory checks on everyone working with children after it emerged Michael O’Brien was employed as a driver.

The 43-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison following his 2002 conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

His employer was in breach of contract because he failed to list O’Brien as one of the drivers for Bus Éireann. All contractors must provide driver details, though they are not subject to mandatory criminal background checks.

The revelation that a convicted sex offender was working as a bus driver prompted calls from children’s groups for mandatory checks on everyone working with the children.

Checks are to be extended beyond health service and childcare workers.