A number of bus drivers have been fined and banned from driving for two years for using seriously defective vehicles, some of which were used to transport schoolchildren.
Charges against their employer were struck out because of what a judge said was the failure of local authorities to properly vet the legal status of company names supplied when vehicles were being registered.
"It is a disgrace that after 16 years of complaining, no action has been taken," Judge Gerard Haughton said. He had dealt with dozens of summonses against drivers employed by Alan Martin, trading as Alan Martin Coaches, Rosemount Business Park, Blanchardstown, Dublin.
Similar summonses against Mr Martin were struck out because the judge found that although the vehicles were registered to Alan Martin Coaches, there was no such legal entity and he could not therefore be properly before the court.
Dublin District Court heard the defects included a hole in one floor so big that a passenger could see the road; wrecked and filthy seats, some with sharp edges; emergency exits blocked or tied up; no first aid or fire extinguishers; doors so badly sealed that fumes could get inside a bus, and an engine compartment accessible to children.
Inspections had revealed some had defective steering, poor or almost non-existent brakes, oil leaks or brake fluid leaks, and one had a tyre so bald the wire was exposed.
Christopher Baker, Whitestown Avenue, Clonsilla, who was stopped four times, was banned from driving for two years and fined €2,250. He told the court he did not know he needed a permit to drive a bus.
Kiernan Bellew had 16 criminal convictions and was stopped twice. The second time he was in a bus which had only just been released from Garda custody the day before having been found with serious defects including a leak on the brakes.
Mr Bellew, Frederick Court, Dublin, did not appear in court and was fined €1,850 with a two-year driving ban.
James Lambert, Kildonan Avenue, Finglas, who drove the bus with the hole in the floor, said it could have been caused by some of the "boisterous" teenagers he had dropped off just before he was stopped. He was fined €1,500 and banned for two years.
Martin O'Toole, Corduff Gardens, Mulhuddart, was fined €1,250 with a two-year ban for driving a bus with a potential fire hazard on it. Olegs Delbouskis, Temple Gardens, Santry, was fined €3,300 and banned for two years. One offence was using his Latvian driving licence which did not cover him. Dermot Maguire, Abbeywood Way, Lucan, was fined €500 for twice driving buses that did not have roadworthiness certificates.