Political reaction: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has promised that the Government will examine the issue of safety for children travelling on private buses.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, he described the events in Co Offaly as "a sad and black day" for the local community and for the family and friends of the 15-year-old boy who died in the crash.
His comments were echoed by both the Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte.
Mr Kenny said the crash had raised additional fears about bus safety for children and teenagers.
Mr Ahern confirmed that the vehicle involved was a privately hired bus and was not under the State's school transport scheme.
He said that in the wake of last year's bus crash in Co Meath where five teenage girls were killed, the Government had provided additional money so that the "two for three" system of three pupils for every two seats was being phased out.
All buses in the school transport fleet would also be retro-fitted with seat-belts by the end of this year.
These new regulations did not apply to buses hired privately by parents, but the Government would now look at this, he added.
Yesterday a spokesman for Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said the Minister favoured introducing similar requirements on passenger numbers and seat-belts for private buses that carry children. From next month, under European law, passengers on all buses fitted with seatbelts will be required to wear them, while from October 2007 all new buses must be fitted with seatbelts.
However, the Government acknowledges that these measures will leave a considerable proportion of the private bus fleet unaffected.
Mr Cullen's spokesman said the Minister had been informed there might be legal and practical problems with attempts to make seatbelts mandatory for children on buses.
Mr Cullen had asked his officials to see how these issues could be overcome.
The Department of Transport believes the European Commission may find any move to introduce mandatory seatbelt laws could be against EU competition law.
There are also concerns that the private bus fleet is so diverse that such a law might be impractical, especially in relation to children carried on regular bus routes such as in Dublin.
Mr Cullen has also been advised that such moves could create capacity problems because they would result in a large number of buses being taken out of operation.
Yesterday Minister for Education Mary Hanafin travelled to Co Offaly to convey her condolences to the local community in Clara.
Fine Gael education spokeswoman Olwyn Enright, a local TD in the area, also expressed her sympathies. "Of particular concern is that this is the second major accident involving a school bus in such a short space of time," she said.