School Transport
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Brian Stanley (IND), Laois

The school bus scheme is working fairly well, and it is good that is happening. I think problems were ironed out a bit quicker this year, and that is welcome. I acknowledge that. However, we have to have the drivers to fill the positions, and it is the Government's ambition, as I understand it, to expand the scheme, maybe to bring in people who are closer to the school and to reduce the distance from the school to qualify for it. If the Government is going to expand the scheme, that, along with an expanding population, will require more drivers. It is really important that we try to fix this because in September there were problems again trying to fill positions. Bus operators were frantically going around trying to get people to take on positions. We could extend the age by three, four or five years beyond 70 with a strict medical test. We do not want to see anybody put in danger. As I said, this has become a problem in Laois. I know it is starting to become a problem elsewhere because other Deputies have started raising it as well. The strict medical test is the issue. I ask the Minister and the Ministers of State to bear this in mind and to use their influence with Bus Éireann because the Department pays money to it every year. People's health is better now. They live longer now. Their health is better beyond 70. Seventy is the new 50.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15