Taoiseach queries Bus Éireann safety tests

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has questioned the transparency of safety checks on Bus Éireann vehicles carried out by the company.

He said the process should be examined after Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny raised concerns about the number of serious and fatal incidents involving school buses.

“Deputy Kenny asked if I am happy that everything is all right after five incidents, and, frankly, no, I am not.

” I spoke to the [Transport] Minister [Martin Cullen] today and I asked him, in conjunction with his officials, to order a full systems review of the entire process, to examine the criteria and to examine how we do our business in this area,” Mr Ahern told the Dáil yesterday.

“It’s not good practice nowadays to audit yourself in any procedure and I think it should be looked at.”

The issue will be considered as part of a review already announced on Tuesday by Mr Cullen into the safety check procedures for the country’s entire bus fleet. The review was sparked by a near tragedy that morning when 32 children were evacuated from a school bus in Co Westmeath moments before it burst into flames. The driver had brought the bus to be checked just 24 hours earlier but it had been cleared.

A Bus Éireann spokesperson said the company has not received formal details of Mr Cullen’s review but it will be pleased to comply with his department’s officials. He said more than 30% of all its annual Department of Environment roadworthiness tests are carried out by independent businesses, rather than Bus Éireann garages.

According to the Department of Transport, much of the area of vehicle testing will be vested in the Road Safety Authority when legislation putting it on a statutory footing is passed in the coming months.

However, the department spokesperson could not say whether it would result in all Bus Éireann vehicles being tested for roadworthiness independently.

Mr Kenny earlier raised the question of the school bus fleet’s age, which he believes is an average of 16 years, far older than the 11 years the Taoiseach estimates is the average of all the country’s buses.

“Many parents are concerned about their children travelling on the clapped-out school bus fleet, many of whose vehicles are more than 16-years-old. Mechanics can only do a certain amount with buses that are beyond a certain age,” Mr Kenny said.

Meanwhile, the garda investigation into last month’s fatal school bus crash in Co Offaly is continuing. A file is likely to be sent to the DPP in the near future.

Michael White, a 15-year-old student at Killina Presentation Secondary School, died when the privately-hired bus carrying 35 children overturned on the morning of April 4.