Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The usual suspects, from well paid newspaper editors to even better paid businessmen, have lined up to attack modestly paid bus drivers for organising a four hour protest yesterday for the protection of public transport in this city and country. The Taoiseach, who is not paid too badly in contrast to bus drivers, was, as usual, found among the chorus of condemnation and said there was no logic to their actions. Where is the logic in the compulsive obsession of the Minister for Transport to privatise one quarter of Dublin's bus services? The EU benchmarking report on European public transport found that Dublin Bus operates in the worst traffic of any EU capital, Government subvention to Dublin Bus is among the lowest in the EU, and we have the lowest ratio of drivers to buses in five major EU capitals and the lowest costs per bus. Where is the logic in handing over one quarter of the capital's crucial public transport service, possibly including garages and facilities, to multinational bus companies based in London, Hamburg and elsewhere? Is €20 billion in repatriated profits not enough to be sent from this country annually?

Is it not the case that the Minister for Transport's right-wing economic thinking is driving this and, despite all logic, is driving the Government to accept the privatisation agenda? Does the Taoiseach not think that the public transport services and the bus service in Dublin is best controlled as a fully publicly owned company, democratically organised and run in the interests of the public and with decent conditions for the workers rather than being handed over to unaccountable multinationals?

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