Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have just come from the demonstration by the bus workers. One of the bus workers told me that if Bus Éireann gets what it is looking for the workers will lose hundreds of euro a week. The workers cannot do this. Does the Minister accept that they cannot do this and therefore they have no choice but to escalate this dispute? If we are looking at an escalating, prolonged dispute by people who have no choice but to fight then the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport would have no choice but to intervene. Will the Minister explain how he can claim that the low levels of subsidy compared with our European counterparts - 70% in Belgium and 50% in Holland as against just over 20% in Ireland - is not the Minister's responsibility and is not an important factor?