Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 November 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion

Mr. Stephen Kent:

We are. As of this week, we have been maintaining an excellent record. We said it today. We are in excess of 99% at the moment. Things like vehicle breakdown will always happen. We had one breakdown this morning. We did not anticipate that and cannot do so.

I will not say we have a strong pipeline of mechanics. It has been very slow. We have one coming in and one joined us recently. It will be a slow road. We are trying to increase apprenticeships in the long term. The business takes in about 28 apprentices long term. We would like to see that increase across the business. That needs to happen. In the short term, we are covering it with anything we can outsource to external help to see if they can assist us, but also bus hires to give those routes resilience. They come at a cost. That is an issue for us. It is to try to guarantee supply while we bridge it but it will not be an overnight fix, certainly from what I hear from the recruitment teams. Every effort is being made. We are doing everything we can in terms of planning.

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