asked the Minister for the Environment if, in the interest of the safety of schoolchildren, he will consider making it mandatory for all traffic to stop when schoolchildren are embarking and disembarking off a school bus in rural areas.

General obligations under the Road Traffic Acts imply a duty on a driver to stop where the circumstances clearly dictate such a course. This could, for example, include a situation where a stationary school bus is embarking or disembarking passengers.

Notwithstanding these general obligations, I am prepared to consider very carefully the Deputy's request that a specific requirement be imposed on a driver to stop where a stationary school bus is embarking or disembarking children in rural areas, with a view to seeing whether it would be practicable to implement such a requirement.

I propose to consult accordingly with the Garda authorities, an Foras Forbartha, the Department of Education and CIE.

In this connection, I propose also to examine the question of making school transport vehicles more readily identifiable to other drivers.