Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the SIPTU and NBRU officials. Their contribution has been very helpful and informative. We accept the case put forward by both unions. There has been much mention of politics and ideologies. We represent people, the community, the taxpayer and the citizen, and we have an obligation to them. Regardless of whether we represent rural or urban constituencies, we must ensure our policies provide for the most efficient and best value for money service for the citizen, consumer and taxpayer. The one thing worse than a public monopoly is a private monopoly and both should be avoided.

It is clear from the presentations that there are many constants. There are standards through the regulatory NTA process that will be constant both to Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus, and to private operators. They will have to comply with the contracts. The differences come down to the pensions of the employees if they are going to transfer or wish to transfer from either Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann. They can remain with Bus Éireann or Dublin Bus if they so wish. There are implications to what I would call letters of comfort. I know they are difficult to deal with. The witnesses mentioned level playing fields in a narrow sense. In a broader sense we do not have a level playing field and these letters of comfort and such issues make it very complicated.

It was mentioned that some elements of Bus Éireann were subventing PSO routes in other areas. That could be broadened out to cover the implication of the school transport service subventing some other public transport services. In this debate we should tease out those issues much further. What is the taxpayer ultimately paying for? Mr. McCamley mentioned the ultimate objective of developing not just bus routes but a transport network, and we take the point. That is a very legitimate argument that we rarely go into. In the years I have been on this committee, we have not discussed it. That debate should be opened. In that context I very much welcome the unions' submissions to the committee. Those genuinely held views should be accepted.