Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The viability of Bus Éireann is at risk. It is losing money. It has lost €27 million in the past five years and that cannot continue.

If Bus Éireann does not continue to exist, the people who work in it will not have jobs. We want to protect the company, the services it provides and the employment it provides to those who work in it. In order to achieve that, the company must be secured. This has been the subject of discussion and negotiation for 11 months and is now the subject of a Labour Court recommendation. What the company is doing is implementing the Labour Court recommendation, which has been the subject of discussion over a long period of time. This is now about the viability of the company. The question of the viability of the company is itself accepted by the assessors engaged by the trade unions to look at this.

We have a period of time between now and the weekend in which further discussions can take place. The company has made it clear that it is available to have those discussions either directly with the unions or with the assistance of the Labour Court or the Labour Relations Commission. I hope such discussions will take place and that industrial action can be averted, but we all need to understand that what is at stake here is the continued existence of Bus Éireann. Deputy Dooley coming in here and crying crocodile tears will be no use to anybody if this company fails and the people in it lose their jobs.

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