Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the question has a number of parts and it is difficult to get it done in the time; that may be an issue for the House at a later stage.

I have always raised concerns about the partial privatisation of certain routes within the network. We only need to look at the experience with London Bus. The Minister might not have had a chance to read himself into what happened with London Bus when it went down the privatisation route. On the face of it, it seemed like a good idea. It looked at the potential for reducing costs while maintaining the same service, but sadly that was not the case. While costs decreased, the service became degraded over time, and unfortunately, when the state had to re-involve itself to try to bring the service back to an acceptable level, it took a hell of a lot more money because, as a result of the poor delivery of service, notwithstanding the service level agreements, passengers effectively moved away from London Bus. We need to be careful to ensure that any action or misadventure by virtue of this privatisation will not result in such a modal shift away from public transport. I have real concerns about that and I ask the Minister to look at the London Bus experience to ensure he is satisfied that this policy decision is appropriate from his perspective.

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