Brian Stanley urges raising school bus drivers' retirement to 75

For the Minister for Transport, or Ministers for Transport, to resolve this issue around concerning school bus drivers when they reach their 70th birthday, having to bow and retire. This has to be addressed, Minister, because it is causing problems, and I have been raising this since January of last year, right throughout the year I've been at it, and I hope there is some progress being met at it. Minister. Thank you very much, Deputy, for asking the question, and I know it is something that you have been passionate about, as have a lot of other deputies across the House and Ministers, because it is something we need to get sorted out. So what I would say first of all is that the overall consideration in relation to age limits for bus drivers has been safety. It is a matter for relevant bus companies, including Bus Airden, to set out their own terms and conditions in relation to employment, including retirement age. Bus Airden applies a retirement age of 70 years for drivers across its wider road passenger services, including semi-state, PSO obligations, and school transport services as well. Operated and managed on behalf of the Minister for Education. This approach has been consistent across the PSO cohort and has neither Dublin Bus nor Go Ahead than applied drivers over the age of 70. Bus Airden's policy of operating services with drivers up to age 70 is grounded in safety considerations. I would say this policy is informed by the company's operational experience and also by ongoing engagement to relevant stakeholders, including the RSA and other public operators. I would say at this stage that I have had contact with Bus Airden over the last year since I came into office, I have asked them to look at the requirements for people over 70. They have been looking at that, they have a safety board and accessibility committee and they are considering that, whether to increase the upper age limit to 75 for their drivers. They are looking at that at the moment and they will continue to engage as well with the Department of Education and Youth and Transport on all of this and hopefully we will get a conclusion on it which will be acceptable to all in the not too distant future. Mr Stanley. Thank you Minister for that. Look, the issue is straightforward. Bus drivers on school transport scheme can't drive beyond their 60th birthday. They can't drive a mini bus for 2 or 3 hours a day with 10 or 15 pupils on it but yet they can drive a 50 or 60 seat or coach hundreds of miles and are doing that. School bus operators are losing drivers every year and I can tell you Unleashed this is a real problem. They are finding it very difficult to replace them because their work is part time and really suits retired people and I want to emphasise this to yourself and Minister Darragh O'Brien. It is really retired people, if you look at the cohort that are driving them, so people retire generally at 60 or 65 and they get 5 or 10 years driving. I am not asking for them to keep going until 100 or 90 years of age, what I am simply proposing is that they go to 75 on the condition that they pass a strict medical test. This is the key, I do not want to endanger anybody but on the condition that they pass a strict medical test, I can understand Bus Aeron and other bus operators being concerned but there are real issues here starting to arise. Somebody driving a bus 2 or 3 hours a day, a mini bus, to 5 or 10 miles to a local school, you know if they can drive 60, 50 and 60 and 70 seat or coaches, which they are doing, I know people are doing it, and they cannot drive the local school bus, that is a ridiculous situation. We need to address the safety issue, you are right, but we need to solve this issue as well. Thank you very much Deputy, and you can drive, a private operator can be asked by the school to bring a group from Galway up to the zoo in Dublin, and an over 70 can drive it, but the fact that somebody cannot drive the students in the local area into the local school where they are a lot more familiar with. There is an issue there to be resolved. I would say to you in all fairness that Bus Aeron are looking at that, they have to look at it from a safety perspective, they also have to look at it from a logistical point of view, how this will work, and how people will, you know, we talk about, it probably affects the private bus operators more than Bus Aeron, because they have people who are well experienced and school bus runs are part time. So what I would be saying to you is that it is a work in progress at the moment, and the Department of Education are involved in it, as well as Bus Aeron, and I will continue to work with them to try and find a solution that you so are requesting. I was just in reply to that, the school bus scheme, you know, is working fairly well, and I am saying that to the Minister here, and that is good that that is happening. You know, we are managing to get, I think, the problems were ironed out a bit quicker this year, and that is welcome, I acknowledge that. But, you know, we have to have the drivers to fill the positions, and it is the Government's ambition, as I understand it, to expand that scheme, maybe to bring in another, you know, people who are closer to the school, and to reduce the amount of distance from the school to qualify for it. And if you are going to expand it, along with an expanded population, you are going to need more drivers, and it is really, really important that we try and fix this, because, you know, in September there was problems again trying to fill positions, bus operators were philantically, you know, going around trying to get people to take on positions, and if we extend that by three, four or five years out beyond 70, with a strict medical test, you know, we do not see anybody put in danger. You know, as I said, it has become a problem in Leish, I know it is starting to become a problem, because other deputies here have started raising it as well. But I think the strict medical test is the thing, and just to bear this in mind, I would ask the Ministers to use their influence, with Bus Aaron, because you pay money to them every year, and people's health is better now. Minister? People live longer now, their health is better beyond 70. Just to reassure the deputy, I just want to reassure you, deputy and every other deputy in the House, that this is a priority for us in the Department of Transport, and I have the support of the Ministers and the Government on this. What we are doing is to make sure that any changes we make are made in taking into account all the safety factors that have to be considered as well. I do agree, look, it is in my own constituency, I see it, where private operators find it hard to get drivers to do part-time work, and there are very well qualified drivers, who may be 70, 71, 72, 73, who can do it, we are doing it last year, cannot do it this year. So we have to look at that and have a pragmatic approach, and that is what is being done at the moment, and hopefully we will get the solution to it in the not too distant future. Thank you.