VIDEO: ‘Onerous obligations’ on school bus contractors

Bus Éireann has insisted that private bus operators subcontracted to provide school transport must meet a number of requirements and are subject to vehicle inspections.

The company made the comments yesterday as Jan O’Sullivan, the education minister, defended the safety of school busses following an accident on Monday in which a bus carrying 50 students overturned on a bend outside Fermoy, Co Cork.

Ms O’Sullivan released details to the Irish Examiner about the bus involved in the incident. “The bus was [registered in] 1999. It had passed its safety tests, everything was in order in terms of insurance, in terms of the licence, the NCT and everything. It was all entirely up-to-date,” she said.