Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

While I welcome that reply, and I acknowledge that Bus Éireann does an excellent job, which the independent audit of its work found and praised the company for, nevertheless, would the Minister agree that there are needs for change within the company? One of the elements Bus Éireann needs to change is where there is only a small number of people, say less than ten, travelling on certain routes, that the company should change the vehicle and opt for smaller vehicles. I acknowledge that Bus Éireann co-operates and works with private contractors specifically, but it should extend and accelerate that process.

At the heart of Bus Éireann, however, is still the issue that it wants to dominate the market and where it basically has a monopoly, it is crucifying commuters. Specifically, I ask the Minister to comment on the fact that Bus Éireann runs buses from Dundalk to Dublin and Dundalk to Belfast, where the distance is 52 km either way but the annual ticket is €1,800 more expensive to go north than to go south for the same distance and the same bus. That is not acceptable. Bus Éireann is abusing a dominant position in the marketplace.

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