The Minister for Education has resisted calls for an immediate investment in school transport following this week's bus crash.
Mary Hanafin told an Oireachtas committee yesterday there was "no evidence at all" that either the absence of seat-belts on school buses or the practice of sitting three pupils to two seats had been in any way related to the tragedy.
She said 140,000 children were transported each day on 3,000 vehicles by Bus Éireann. Despite this week's accident, the company had "a very good safety record".
Ms Hanafin said her department was concentrating on phasing out the "three-in-two" seating practice. Only 14 per cent of school children were transported in this manner.
She noted that an EU directive would come into force next May requiring seat-belts to be used wherever they were available on buses.
However, the reality was that most buses in the country and in Europe did not have seat-belts. That went for all types of buses and not just school coaches.
"It's not as if we are giving our children anything less than we are giving everyone else."
She stressed that "old does not necessarily mean unsafe" in relation to public transport vehicles. All school buses had to pass roadworthiness tests, and were fitted with speed-limiters.
