Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Lest there be any confusion, I should be clear that there is no proposal whatever to privatise Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus or Irish Rail. That is not on the agenda of the Government at all. There is already plenty of public transport provided by private companies across the State; for example, Transdev operates the Luas system very successfully and will serve 30 million passengers this year alone. There is also the likes of Aircoach, Matthews, Wexford Bus and many others. It is already the case that private sector companies provide public transport.

The NTA considered all kinds of model from around the world. In some cities they work well and in others they do not. We will certainly not go down the route followed outside of London in the UK, where depots and entire bus services were sold. That is not what is envisaged at all. Any tendering that may occur - although it cannot occur for a number of years - would be open to Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann or any other company and the contract would only go to the tenderer that could provide the best service. It is not necessarily about saving money but providing a potentially better service for people at the same price to the taxpayer.

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