Some 15 per cent of Bus Éireann's fleet of school buses is more than 20 years old, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.
Figures presented to the Joint Committee on Education and Science showed that 99 (15 per cent) of the company's 679 buses were older than 20 years, while a further 296 (44 per cent) were aged between 16 and 20 years. The average age of the Bus Éireann fleet is 15 years.
Those buses operated for Bus Éireann by contractors are generally younger, with 127 large buses (11 per cent) and two minibuses (0.2 per cent) older than 20 years.
The figures were presented by officials from the Department of Education in response to a question by Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright, who said some parents were concerned at the age of the school bus fleet.
"There are genuine concerns, [ and] parents, naturally enough, expect their children to travel in newer buses," she said.
According to Frank Wyse, assistant secretary at the Department of Education: "We would hope progressively to ensure that the age of the fleet is reduced."
Mr Wyse also said the process of fitting seat belts and providing a single seat for all children on the State's school buses would be complete by December this year.
Some 375 of the Bus Éireann fleet of 679 school buses have already been retrofitted with seat belts, he said.
Of private contractors' vehicles, including taxis and other vehicles used in the school transport scheme, more than 80 per cent have already been fitted with belts.
A further measure, announced by the working group established after the school bus crash that killed five teenage girls at Kentstown, Co Meath in May 2005, was the phasing out of the "three for two" arrangement. This is on course for completion by the end of the year.
This arrangement permitted the maximum loading on a school bus to be increased at a ratio of three students to two seats.
"At this stage, all of the 2,500 post-primary services are on a one-for-one seating basis. This is a major advance in a short period of time," said Mr Wyse.
There are more than 3,000 vehicles in the school transport fleet and overall expenditure on the service has increased in recent years to €152 million.
Some 6 per cent of all passengers carried are special needs children, and about 33 per cent of the financial allocation is now spent in this area.
While the working group was of the view that lap belts rather than three-point belts were the most appropriate for the fleet's retrofit, Labour TD Jan O'Sullivan said that "in some countries they have decided that lap belts are not the most appropriate, especially for small children".
However, Mr Wyse reported that the working group, which included representatives from the Departments of Education, Transport and Finance, had studied international standards and concluded that "lap belts, with associated safety measures, were the most appropriate for installation in a retrofit situation in school buses".
Such safety measures would include the use of energy-absorbing material on the backs and tops of seats.
Fine Gael TD Damien English said there was an onus on the State to "go the extra mile" and not spare any expense to ensure the safety of school buses. "We have to demand the best for our children, because what happened at Kentstown cannot happen again."
There have been four high-profile incidents involving school buses in recent months. In April, Michael White (15) died after the bus in which he was travelling crashed near the village of Clara, Co Offaly, while in May, 32 children had a narrow escape when their bus caught fire in Athboy, Co Meath.