Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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Where is the sense of urgency? I am not waving at the Minister, I am holding up my hand. There are five days to go before a national bus strike which may well be the prelude to a national public transport strike. Last year, the Minister said being Minister for transport was a doddle. The Minister came to the committee on 1 February, exactly one month ago, and I asked him what the cost to the taxpayer would be were Bus Éireann to become insolvent. I asked him the cost in terms of payroll taxes forgone from 2,600 workers, redundancy payments for 2,600 workers and social welfare payments for those workers. The Minister replied that off hand he could not give me those figures but could probably get a figure worked out. He said he would get back to me. It is not a week or two that have passed, it is a month. I am asking the Minister to get back to me now. What would it cost to make Bus Éireann insolvent which, as Mr. Hernan says, could be on the cards by May, which is in a matter of weeks?