Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That sounds like a response from a quack doctor that seeks to resolve the fact that one has a sore toe when one’s heart is failing. The heart of the CIE group of companies is failing. The integrated nature of the network is being disentangled as services are stripped to meet budgetary requirements. The Minister of State will have to rethink in its entirety what kind of public transport service can be provided based on the moneys that are available. I appeal to the Minister of State not to focus on short-term budgetary pressures. He must fight his corner with the Minister for Finance. I do not suggest that it is possible to create money in the current environment but the Minister of State must set out what is required of the State in terms of what the public transport service will look like and what future shape it will have, because if he allows it to be dismantled he will never be in a position to re-establish it.

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