Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's "no comment" speaks volumes. I want to ask him about the insolvency of Bus Éireann. Mr. Hernan has said that within a year the company could reach a crunch. He has also indicated that the board will be unable to sign off on reports at the end of March unless a plan is put in place. He has talked about making unilateral cuts within 19 days, which means, as we all know, that there will be national strike action soon afterwards. The Minister is in a situation where we are 19 days away from a national bus strike in a company that has a boss who has said the board will not be able to sign off on reports by the end of March and the entire company could be insolvent. If it was to become insolvent, what would the cost be in terms of redundancies, lost tax revenue to the State and social welfare payments for 2,500 employees? Can the Minister give us that figure?