asked the Minister for Local Government if minimum ventilation standards are prescribed for public service passenger vehicles; and if any minimum requirements must be satisfied before such vehicles are put into service.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ventilation of Public Service Vehicles.
3.
Sub-article (4) of article 66 of the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963, prescribes that every large public service vehicle while in a public place "shall be so constructed that adequate ventilation is possible without opening windows".
Has the Minister any explanation for the complaints of the public with regard to the standard of ventilation in some of the new buses?
I understand there have been some complaints and the company is attending to the matter.
It is an extraordinary thing that these complaints should emerge only when the buses in question are actually in service. The purpose of my question was why these checks were not carried out before the buses were put into service.
It may be that it is a question of temperature rather than ventilation. Some people believe it is the heating system rather than the ventilation system that may be at fault.
Is the Minister aware that a number of people have, in fact, collapsed in these buses?
I am not so aware.
Will the Minister inquire and find out if it is a fact that a number of people have collapsed because of the lack of air and the heat in these buses, buses which are manoeuvring daily on the streets of Dublin? It is a shocking state of affairs.
The company is doing everything possible to deal with the situation.
Would the Minister say why, in the first instance, vehicles which carry thousands of people daily were permitted to operate on the streets of Dublin when inadequate tests had obviously been carried out?
I think the matter is greatly exaggerated.
If the Minister collapsed in one he would not think that.
There are boring operations in progress in Broadstone at the moment; it is ridiculous that these tests were not carried out beforehand.