Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister of State's goodwill on this matter. We have been hearing about the company in the same terms for ten years. It has had robust business plan after robust business plan. CIE has been the black hole in the semi-State hemisphere for a very long time. We need something more dramatic than this, particularly given that the auditors expressed serious worries last year about whether CIE was a going concern. I wonder what measures and what vision the Minister of State and his Government colleagues have in mind to ensure CIE continues as a going concern. When passenger numbers continue to fall, as they undoubtedly will, the outlook is that we will continue to implement sticking plaster solutions - either withdrawing the subvention or not - as each crisis emerges. In that context, what are the plans for the subvention this year and in the next five years? Is there a plan to run down the subventions or to keep them at a higher level?

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