Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach states that it is not fair, just or equitable yet he does nothing. He knows as well as I that there are different ways to govern. One way is to build a citizen-centred, rights-based society with equality for citizens and a right to public services. The other involves an approach whereby it is everyone for himself or herself, where there is little sense of social solidarity and where there are no legal rights or social protections for citizens. This is the vision that Fine Gael and, shamefully, the Labour Party now embrace. Hardly a month passes without further evidence of the Government's destruction of public services and its policy of privatisation in the areas of health, water services and public transport. The Government's plan to privatise bus routes is set to fatally undermine Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus. It is clear the Taoiseach either does not understand or chooses to ignore the fact that in order to ensure an economic recovery which is fair and which leaves no family or part of our island behind, investment in public transport is crucial.

Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus have struggled to maintain vital services but they have actually managed to increase passenger numbers and revenue despite Government cuts. Now, however, those opposite are going to force these public companies to compete with private operators. Buses will in future run as a means of generating profits for shareholders and not as a public service. Those who will suffer will be ordinary workers, students, elderly citizens and families. Privatisation will inevitably drive down the wages of bus workers and will have an adverse impact on their terms and conditions. Will the Taoiseach acknowledge that profit cannot be perceived as the decisive factor in terms of whether the economy of and services on offer in rural Ireland decline further? Will he reverse the decision the Government has taken to privatise bus services?

See this speech in context