Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Courtney is very welcome. It would be remiss of me not to comment by way of asking a question but Senators have already made reference to what I had intended to say. The only association I had with Dublin Bus was jumping on the 23 bus to go down to the Phoenix Park for a run or hitching a lift when I was injured on the way back from Palmerstown.

People would ask me about the mindset of an athlete or a sportsperson in the 1960s and 1970s compared to the mindset of an athlete in 2014 or recent years when we have seen the performances increasing. Mr. Courtney has a phenomenal background in that he was involved in the nuts and bolts, so to speak. He probably knows every nook and cranny in the engines, besides being a conductor and a bus driver. What is the difference between the mindset in Dublin Bus now and the mindset at the time he was working there? The experience he gained academically through arbitrations, human resources etc. places him in the role of a very good visionary, particularly because of his experience of the nuts and bolts aspect and in terms of where we are now.

I agree with the subvention and a social contract between Dublin Bus and the Government but, ultimately, it is the taxpayer who pays for that subvention. Is the taxpayer aware that if there was no subvention it would not be a very attractive buy commercially? Based on that observation, how does Mr. Courtney, as a visionary who is coming in as chairman of Dublin Bus, intend to get that balance right to satisfy both Government and, ultimately, the taxpayer?