Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I put it to the Minister that there is a contradiction in his statement. On the one hand he maintains it is about a review and streamlining services but then he admits that the constraints are all to do with the EU-IMF deal and the package of budget constraints that follow from it. I suggest this is the truth of the matter: it is about the EU-IMF austerity package but it is glossed over with the language of a review.

Is it not the case that if one takes 200 buses out of the Dublin Bus fleet one does not get a better service, one gets a worse service? I call on the Minister to meet these people. Although public representatives played a role in organising and facilitating some of the meetings, I assure the Minister this involves hundreds or thousands of ordinary residents throughout the city who wish to meet the Minister. There need not be any public representatives present at the meetings. These are ordinary citizens who wish to meet the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to explain to him how they are suffering as a result of these cutbacks. I appeal to the Minister to meet their request.

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