Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I urge the delegates to negotiate right up to the last minute to try to solve this problem. There are no winners in strikes. As regards holding on to the extra staff, is Bus Éireann projecting an age profile that would see enough people retiring to facilitate this?

Has Bus Éireann taken a look at public transport services around the country? There are counties in which there is no public transport system. There might be a system in Dublin and the cities, but in ordinary rural parts of Ireland the company is cutting, not increasing, services. Is it going to try to be more expansive and work with communities to provide a better service? If we are talking about congestion or whatever else, it should apply to all parts of Ireland. We should not concentrate on just four or five parts of the country and to hell with the rest.