Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the Minister a question on the same topic. A total of €3 million is being allocated for working capital relating to the bus market opening programme. It arises from the gross cost contract arrangement that will go ahead in Bus Éireann for routes that have been opened to competition. In this case the National Transport Authority, NTA, will collect all fare revenues and carry the associated revenue risk. The announcement by the NTA of further privatisation of Bus Éireann services is a real blow to workers and trade unions who were of the belief that they had an agreement in 2015 to the effect that if any further routes were to be opened up to privatisation a period would be allocated for the assessment of how Go-Ahead Ireland has been doing. The Minister is meant to be a guardian of public money, but we hear now that the intention is to hand over €3 million to open bus routes to a private company. The State will end up subsidising millions to a multinational company and it will inevitably end up providing subsidies in welfare due to the low pay of the workers that will be employed. My understanding from talking to members of the National Bus & Rail Union, NBRU, is that Go-Ahead Ireland is having real difficulty recruiting workers, who are on reduced terms and conditions compared to established workers in Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus.

Perhaps the Minister will dissociate himself and say this is up to the NTA, which is independent in its operations, but none of us believes that. We see the payment of €3 million as being ideological. Because the issue needs further exploration we should bring in the NTA and the unions in the new year to discuss matters. The unions are of the belief that, as I outlined, this is a breach of the agreement that they had on there being a period of assessment before any further routes would be opened. The cost effectiveness of the proposal was to be assessed, yet the Minister is now doling out more public money to allow the privatisation of services on worse terms and conditions for the workers. I assume the private sector is being handed the Dublin to Drogheda routes and the Dublin to Wicklow routes, which are in the commuter belt and are heavily trafficked, so would inevitably be profitable. The Minister is cherry-picking services. If Bus Éireann makes extra money at least it goes back into the economy whereas the private companies hand it out in dividends to their shareholders. How long will the public purse have to subsidise companies coming in at the taxpayers' expense?