Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like the Minister to accept that there were four contributory factors to this financial crisis. The first was the lack of subvention. The subvention to our public transport network is the lowest in Europe. The second was the deliberate saturation of routes. The third was the gross underfunding of the free travel scheme whereby just 41% of the average journey fare is covered. The fourth is the fact that Bus Éireann's accounts show that €41 million was pilfered, if one likes, from Expressway services and pumped into the PSO services because of State underfunding. I ask the Minister to accept that this financial crisis was caused by bad policy and mismanagement. I ask him to acknowledge the workers had no hand, act or part in creating this crisis.

Does the Minister accept the unions' contention that the motorway network was saturated to over-capacity? The NTA has claimed there is enough service volume to cover reduction in frequency on the Dublin to Limerick and the Dublin to Galway routes. If there is enough volume of service there, does it not prove that it can comfortably say that it can reduce and remove the public transport network. That just proves the saturation policy. Does the Minister want me to repeat what the NTA stated?