Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

The funding of public service obligation, PSO, services is governed by public transport contracts between the National Transport Authority, NTA, and the three CIE subsidiaries. In 2011, Dublin Bus will receive, through the NTA, an estimated €72.4 million in Exchequer subvention.

Decisions on the overall level of subvention available for PSO services in 2012 will be made following the comprehensive review of expenditure currently being undertaken by Government. It is inevitable that, in the current fiscal environment, there will be a significant reduction in the level of subvention in 2012 and the following years. I support a continuation of the efforts by the company to improve its efficiency and reduce the costs of providing PSO services.

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