Bus tragedy - Child safety must be our first concern

THE school bus involved in Tuesday’s accident - in which 15-year-old Michael White was killed - was not licensed, Transport Minister Martin Cullen told the Dáil yesterday.

The operator does have a Road Passenger Transport Operator’s Licence, issued in 2003, but it did not cover the vehicle involved in this week’s fatal accident.

Hence that bus was not licensed to carry passengers.

When an operator applies to the department for a license, the department must see the roadworthiness certificate for the vehicle, so it would seem that no such certificate was seen for this bus.

Although seat belts will be compulsory on the fleet of public buses by the end of 2006, it does not cover private buses that may be hired by parents. While the vast majority of schools’ buses will be covered, the minister is only talking about encouraging private bus owners to install seat belts. This is not good enough.

The priority must be the safety of pupils, not economic or any other factors.

Legislation should be introduced without delay to require that all school buses - public and private - should have seats belts for all children, and they should be required to use them.

We have had too much tragedy already.