Mr. Bill McCamley:

The Chairman will be relieved to know that I will be quick. Senator Barrett's comments implied that we had a problem with private operators. He referred to the money given to Bus Éireann, but he did not mention that €110 million per year of that goes to private contractors. In terms of the school bus service, the ratio between private contractors and direct labour is 80:20. It is easy to make a profit on a straight line, but we should be in this for some other purpose than simply getting from A to B and privatising whatever profits are made on a line.

Regarding Mr. Murphy's comments, Bus Éireann has done everything it can to take the cuts applied by the State while still providing the State with value for money. This is despite the fact that, the tendering issue aside for a moment, the licences being distributed on corridors where commercial expressway services operate are breaking the guidelines. Most recently, J. J. Kavanagh & Sons has been operating outside the guidelines ten minutes ahead of the Bus Éireann service. This is not fair. We are seeking a level playing field. If we are to compete, let us do so on the same basis as private operators. The last licence distributed, which was in Ennis, is costing Bus Éireann €200,000. Every time we scramble to get back to the break-even point, the services that we are trying to develop to provide a social dividend to areas outside the main corridors are pulled away from us. We must ask whether this is a deliberate policy by elements in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the NTA to reduce Bus Éireann to a rump bus company. This issue must be closely examined.