Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 31 - Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (Supplementary)

5:05 pm

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Works have commenced on Oranmore station and we expect that to be completed next year.

There was also a question from Deputy Walsh on the 2013 plans for CIE. CIE, as I stated on numerous occasions, is in a perfect storm between loss of revenue, loss of passengers, loss of the fuel rebate, the price of fuel also increasing and the drop in the PSO. As we all will be aware, it is in an extremely difficult position.

Deputy Walsh asked if I could give a guarantee that we will not be dipping into capital expenditure in the future. I can never give such an absolute guarantee, but it is not our intention. We have been in negotiations with CIE on ensuring that it will get to a position of strong viability next year. We have had to put €36 million into the group. It has been done in stages. The group has been set defining targets. Obviously, we have had to submit this Supplementary Estimate for CIE in order to ensure its future. That five-year business plan is fairly robust. At this stage, we are nearly down to weekly meetings to ensure the robustness of the plan for the future. We would be hopeful that the plan will make the group's services viable.

On Deputy Ann Phelan's question on the future of public transport, some offer the panacea of certain liberalisation and privatisation. Obviously, in certain circumstances we have had competition. I am not somebody who is necessarily against competition but, in itself, it is not a panacea. Public transport is not profit-making. We have one of the lowest subsidised public transport services in Europe, although some do not realise that. We must get to a stage where there is an integrated, viable and workable transport service in the country, dare I say it, combining both public and private operators, and that is what we aim for.

As Deputies, particularly those in rural areas, will be aware, that poses difficult challenges. For instance, Bus Éireann had to examine its network. Dublin Bus also had to examine its network. Effectively, from an Expressway point of view, Bus Éireann was in a commercial place. To a large degree, it might as well be a private operator. Having said that, I would receive a good deal of representations from Deputies stating that Bus Éireann must continue to be in this town, that town or whatever town. The fact of the matter is that these are decisions made by Bus Éireann. They are not decisions made by me or my colleagues. One cannot say that the company must compete, break even and, dare I say it, make profits while also stating the company must enter into various different operations that make it uncompetitive. It is impossible to do both. The company must try to provide as good a public commercial service as possible. That goes for Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. I suppose it is about the future.

The future will involve a great deal of change as regards ensuring that there is integration across services. I am glad to say that in the past year and a half there has been much progress in that area, and it comes under my domain quite a bit. Whether it is the advancement of integrated ticketing, the issue of real-time passenger information, the advocacy of Wi-Fi, the national journey planner or many other initiatives down to simple provisions on public transport services, it is a matter of ensuring that consumers using public transport feel that the service operates to their requirements, is on schedule and is comfortable and they can do their business on it. That is where we have moved in the past year and a half.

Certainly, there are challenges, particularly for Irish Rail in the area of competing with other modes of transport and ensuring more consumers use its services. In that regard, there are challenges in pricing. There are challenges in how the company will entice more passengers. However, Irish Rail has made strong moves in the past few months to improve its offering. One will see from its website that Irish Rail has different pricing models and different service models. It will take time for that to come into effect but it will have an impact in the future.

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