Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The chairperson of the NTA, in addressing the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications a number of months ago, said the NTA would determine the routes, schedules, vehicle types, standards, fares and customer service requirements and that the contracted operator would have no say in deciding fares, routes or frequencies. He went on to say the branding would also be determined by the authority, as well as the accessibility standards and emissions standards for pollutants and noise. Where else can competitive tendering take place, except on wages and the conditions of workers who will drive the buses on the routes chosen? Unless a substantial subsidy is provided for them, what will happen is that there will be a driving down of the terms and conditions of workers who provide services on the routes, which would be a retrograde step. The proposal is only to put out to tender 10% of routes. Bus Éireann operates services across the country, including on very unprofitable routes in rural areas, on which services must be subsidised. In selecting the 10% of routes to go out to tender the tendency will be to cherry-pick routes that will be guaranteed to make profit for the private sector, which will undermine the public service remit of Bus Éireann across the country.

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