Brian Stanley urges change to school-bus age limit to 75
Brian Stanley raised concerns about the mandatory retirement age of 70 for drivers under the school bus scheme and called for the age limit to be increased. He said drivers should be allowed to continue until 75 provided they pass strict annual medical and eyesight tests.
He argued that forcing drivers to retire arbitrarily at 70 is wrong and warned the scheme is losing drivers every week. More drivers will be lost between now and the end of August as they reach 70, he said, creating an urgent staffing problem for the transport scheme.
Representatives from the bus operator told the Oireachtas they are trying to recruit drivers and want to expand the scheme, but recruitment is difficult because positions are part-time. The roles are three to four hours a day, suit retired people on a state pension, and do not suit younger workers with families because wages and hours are limited.
A review by the Department of Transport has been completed and the Government is now discussing an independent assessment, according to a parliamentary question reply he received. He said that review should be sufficient and pressed the minister and the Taoiseach to resolve the issue with only 13 weeks remaining before the 25th of August deadline.
He noted that more children than ever are accessing the transport scheme of £173,000 and there is a commitment to expand access so as many children as possible can be transported. Expanding the scheme will require more buses and more drivers, and the Department of Education will work closely with the Department of Transport on changes and any review outcomes.
Issue raised
He argued that forcing drivers to retire arbitrarily at 70 is wrong and warned the scheme is losing drivers every week. More drivers will be lost between now and the end of August as they reach 70, he said, creating an urgent staffing problem for the transport scheme.
Recruitment challenges
Representatives from the bus operator told the Oireachtas they are trying to recruit drivers and want to expand the scheme, but recruitment is difficult because positions are part-time. The roles are three to four hours a day, suit retired people on a state pension, and do not suit younger workers with families because wages and hours are limited.
Review and deadline
A review by the Department of Transport has been completed and the Government is now discussing an independent assessment, according to a parliamentary question reply he received. He said that review should be sufficient and pressed the minister and the Taoiseach to resolve the issue with only 13 weeks remaining before the 25th of August deadline.
Scheme expansion and departmental work
He noted that more children than ever are accessing the transport scheme of £173,000 and there is a commitment to expand access so as many children as possible can be transported. Expanding the scheme will require more buses and more drivers, and the Department of Education will work closely with the Department of Transport on changes and any review outcomes.
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Transcript
The issue I am raising with you again is the issue of the bar on over 70s being allowed drive under the school bus scheme. The drivers should be able to continue working within the scheme until they are 75, I believe, provided they pass a strict medical test and a strict eyesight test annually. The situation where they are forced to retire arbitrarily at 70 is wrong. We already have a shortage of school bus drivers and more will be forced out. We are losing drivers every week. More will be forced out between now and the end of August as they reach 70 years of age. Bus Aaron were in the Oireachtish yesterday telling us that they are trying to recruit drivers and want to expand the scheme. But you won't be able to do it. I don't mean that in any smart way. I am saying it is not mission impossible. There is difficulty as the positions are only part-time positions of three or four hours a day. It suits retired people who are on a state pension. It does not suit young people who have a family. Men or women who have a family. The wages are not there for it. It is only part-time by its nature. Younger workers simply cannot take on that. Thank you Deputy. So what I am asking is that both you and the Taoiseach have agreed with me here in the Florida at all that we need to change this. There is a review after being carried out by the Department of Transport. That is now complete and the Government are now talking about an independent assessment according to a PQ reply I received this week. You have the review done. That should be enough. We need to fix this and sort it out because we have only 13 weeks left to do it on the 25th of August. Thank you Deputy and thank you for raising this issue. There are more children than ever before who are accessing the transport scheme of £173,000 and there is a very clear commitment to make sure that we expand that further and that as many children as possible can access that. Of course that means more buses. It means more drivers as well. There are very clear reasons as to why the 70-year age limit was set but we have given a very clear commitment in the Programme for Government to review that to see if any changes can be made, be it in the buses, the size of the buses, the number of children. That is something that is happening at the moment and something my Department of Education will be working closely with Transport on. Thank you Deputy,