I ask the Taoiseach again today about discrimination against bus drivers aged over 70. I salute every man and woman in Bus Éireann and private companies who bring our children and grandchildren to school and home safely. There is chaos at the moment in regard to tickets. Many companies have two or three drivers who are approaching 70 and they will no longer be able to carry children to school when they reach 70. This is discrimination. We have raised this issue countless times. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, said the Department would look at this and change it. Drivers are willing to do two medical examinations a year, or three if necessary. It is not a question of having unsafe people driving. These people who are retired and like to undertake part-time work are fit, well and able to do it and they provide a valuable link in the current circumstances. They can bring kids to swimming or matches but they cannot bring them to school. It is nonsensical. It needs a change, a stroke of a pen, to allow over-70s with medical certificates to drive school buses and private buses.

I have sympathy with Deputy McGrath's position on this issue and what he advocates. There were obviously safety reasons for that age limit being introduced in the first instance but the world has moved on in that people are living longer and have better quality of life as they age. That should be taken into consideration. The Minister is looking at the issue and I will engage with him again on it.