Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

Dublin Bus has already lost 120 buses and this has had an impact on efficiency. I had a meeting with Dublin Bus this morning about bus route Nos. 19 and 68. The cuts have had an impact and people are returning to their cars. The system is not efficient. We will face charges of up to €1 billion over the next five years under the Kyoto protocol if we do not honour the agreement, yet we are reducing the number of buses. Does the Minister of State not believe we should be retaining buses rather than reducing their number? If the next level of subvention will be such that there will be cuts to wages and staff, it will have an even greater impact. Does the Minister of State believe this will be the case?

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