The Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, has announced that all school buses will be fitted with seatbelts by the end of 2006.
The practice of three children sharing two seats will come to an end for all second-level students next term.
The scheme will be extended to all school transport by the end of 2006.
The announcement comes two months after five schoolgirls died in a school bus crash near Navan in Co Meath. The vehicle was not fitted with seatbelts.
A spokesperson for Bus Éireann said that its inquiry into the cause of the Co Meath accident was nearing completion.
