Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is deeply unfortunate that we find ourselves, at the eleventh hour, in a situation where tens of thousands of people will be without public transport in the coming days. The blame for that lies firmly at the feet of this Government. The fateful decision was taken by a Labour Party Minister, in consultation with the former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, before the current Minister came into office. Notwithstanding that, an ideological position is being pushed by Fine Gael which has led to this crisis.

The Minister took the opportunity yesterday to suggest that it was a decision taken by a previous Government that led to this situation. However, he knows well that the 2008 Act was based on a European Commission regulation of 2007 which required legislation to cover competition. The legislation that was introduced in 2008 sets out very clearly in section 52 that the existing routes could be maintained by both Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus, based on an awarding mechanism that would see them retain what they currently have. Instead of using the provisions in the legislation to introduce competitive tendering for new routes, thereby protecting the core public transport network, this Government has chosen not to use section 52 of the legislation or, indeed, the agreements that were reached with unions at the time. It has chosen a path of dismantling the public transport system that is currently in public ownership. That is why the workers identify rightly, on behalf of the next generation, that if they do not take a stand now, commuters will be disenfranchised and routes and services will diminish in line with what happened in other jurisdictions, particularly in London.

I appeal to the Minister, through the NTA, to call off the process of competitive tendering and go back to the table to see how he can achieve his ideological goals in a manner that does not impact on either the travelling public or the workers.

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