Mr. Gerry McMahon:

I do not disagree with the Deputy. He likened Bus Éireann with small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, but putting the two in the same pot is difficult. We will not shun our responsibilities and have not done so to date. Of course there is a duty of care to employees. We have taken our duty of care seriously. I do not know where else this measure happens. I cannot see this provision being the factor that will solve all of our problems.

I assure the Deputy that there are many roadside inspections of commercial vehicles conducted jointly by the Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority, RSA. As an organisation, we 100% agree with that programme and have worked with both organisations to tidy up our act, as it were. For years, there were problems with badly maintained equipment, but that was years ago. We have a modern fleet. When it comes to road safety, we have invested heavily, and continue to do so, in the safest and most environmentally friendly vehicles that can be bought in the market. There is no more modern a fleet in Europe than the Irish one.

In regard to the issue of responsibility, one has to take into consideration the nature of the transport industry, which is a mobile industry. The employees do not work from the same base all the time. If an employee, working from a specific site whom one may randomly test for drugs or alcohol, at some stage works from an alternate site, which happens regularly as I have stated already, he or she may then feel victimised. It is the consequence down the line of what happens if there is a problem. We do not have clarity in this regard and we need it.