Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am surprised that the Minister of State, coming from the Labour Party, would go along with this. I would expect Fine Gael to do this because it has been pushing a privatisation agenda for many years. In November 2013 the NTA, in spite of negative experiences of privatisation of bus services, went along with the idea of putting out to tender 10% of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann routes and 100% of routes in Waterford. This was at a time when passenger numbers were increasing in the major cities. The privatisation of the routes will put 440 jobs at risk. Dublin Bus is increasing its employee numbers, but the Government will put jobs at risk by 2016. This will also undermine terms and conditions for workers. When routes are allocated to private companies, conditions are less favourable to workers. Will the Minister of State reconsider this issue and not blame the NTA? This is a Government decision. Using the NTA is not good enough. This is against the principles for which the Labour Party has stood.

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