Richard O'Donoghue: 70-Year Bus Driver Rule Keeps Children From School
Richard O'Donoghue addressed rules on bus driver ages affecting school transport, arguing the 70-year limit is inconsistent and prevents children getting to school. He said chronological age is a meaningless metric and that he will raise the issue with the Minister for Transport and bus airing to get it sorted.
Issue raised
He described a situation in which drivers aged 70 are barred from taking children on contracted school runs, leaving some pupils unable to get to school while private operators refuse those drivers for school transport.
Policy inconsistency
He highlighted an inconsistency where the same driver who cannot be used for school runs can still be called by a school to take pupils on a tour to the Dáil, illustrating a mismatch between rules and practice.
Position on age-based rules
He argued that chronological age is a poor measure of fitness to drive - noting that one can have a very fit 75-year-old and an unfit 65-year-old - and called for common sense to be applied to the policy.
Proposed follow-up
He said he will speak again with the Minister for Transport and engage with bus airing to seek a resolution and to address the impact on school transport and children unable to get to school.
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The age of bus drivers is 70. What we have at the moment is that our children can't get to school at the moment because private operators are contracts from the bus airing, so they can't take them to school if they're over 70. But they can be called by the school to take them on a tour to the Dáil and they can be over 70. So the same bus driver that can't take our children to school can take them anywhere in the country, but bus airing won't allow them to take them to school because they're under the contract. Thank you. Deputy Deputy Jennifer Whittler. I agree with Deputy Dunhu. I sympathise with Deputy Dunhu at this point. I will talk to the Minister for Transport again on this to engage with bus airing to get this issue sorted. Chronological age, in my view, is meaningless as a metric. It can be general, but it's meaningless. You can have a very fit 75-year-old and an unfit 65-year-old. I think, to borrow the phrase again, we need a bit of common sense applied here.
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