Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

recognises that:

- Bus Éireann is in serious financial difficulties with reported losses of €5.3 million in 2016, and greater projected losses in 2017;

- Bus Éireann has said that the company’s finances are in a ‘perilous state’ and that this could lead to job losses unless restructuring proposals are accepted;

- a major contributor to the falling revenues has been the commercial services which have struggled to compete with new market entrants in recent years;

- the company cannot continue to operate in its current loss making position which is depleting its reserves and that without action the company could face liquidity and solvency issues within the next 24 months; and

- any subsidisation of losses of the commercial operations of Bus Éireann, which competes with private enterprises, would likely encounter European Union competition and state aid issues;

acknowledges:

- that the report by Grant Thornton faults the Expressway services for the significant losses and recommends the possibility of significant reductions in Expressway services, up to and including Bus Éireann exiting these operations altogether;

- that such action would result in Bus Éireann shutting down many of its key routes serving large swathes of the country, leaving many areas in between big towns and cities with no direct Expressway services to Dublin or other cities and this cannot be considered acceptable;

- the fact that this is being considered as a potential option is creating huge uncertainty and fear and is evidence of the neglect of rural Ireland by the Government; and

- the need for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Government to act urgently to prevent the possibility of nationwide industrial action of the public transport services; and

calls on the Government to:

- commit to the importance of a public sector transport network that is adequately funded;

- take more determined actions to secure the future of Bus Éireann services nationwide and use its powers as a stakeholder to ensure that there are no changes to the Expressway service and that restructuring plans are agreed with workers and not imposed unilaterally;

- increase funding to Bus Éireann for free travel passengers as well as examining whether additional routes should be added to the public service obligation contract;

- review the route licensing system, in conjunction with the National Transport Authority, NTA, to ensure wider concerns such as those regarding rural isolation or whether competition is sustainable on a route are included in decisions as to whether to grant or refuse bus route licenses to operators; and

- introduce legislation to give the NTA greater licensing powers to approve or reject route amendments by Bus Éireann and private operators.

The purpose of the motion is to enable all Members of the Dáil to discuss the serious challenges facing Bus Éireann. We know that in 2015 the company endured a loss of €5.6 million and that losses in 2016 were between €6 million and €9 million. I record in the Dáil my party's commitment to a properly funded and sustainable public transport system for the benefit of all Ireland. While acknowledging that private operators have a role to play, we do not believe public transport, or large sections of it, can be left exclusively to private operators, the core objective of which is to make a profit. That is fair enough but the State and the Government have a duty and a responsibility to ensure that we maintain the core public service that is public transport. We have a duty and a responsibility to ensure that all regions are served and have the benefit of public transport. There are many people in communities who are reliant on public transport to get to work, medical appointments and college or to enable them to get out and about and remain connected with the outside world. Whether the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, likes to admit it, there is real fear and anxiety among those who rely on these services and among the people working in Bus Éireann.

Much of the loss is blamed on the Expressway service. We know from the leaked Grant Thornton report, of which I had only a draft copy but I at least had a copy of it, that the Expressway service is the cause of the problem. By way of example, a woman in my constituency in Rathowen, which is located on the N4, is a full-time carer for her blind sister. The only way she can get to either Longford or Mullingar is on the Expressway service. While there are other private operators on that route they do not stop at Rathowen. There are three operators serving the Dublin-Carlow-Waterford route, including Bus Éireann and two private operators. Bus Éireann, Expressway, is the only operator servicing the towns and villages between Carlow and Waterford.

I accept that the losses at the commercial arm of Bus Éireann cannot be allowed to continue but it is worth noting that Bus Éireann traded its way out of far more substantial losses in the past. The Minister has said that he has no role to play in the restructuring of Bus Éireann. In 2015, his predecessor at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport commissioned a report on a plan for the restructuring of Bus Éireann. However, when that plan was presented to the Department nothing happened. Where is that plan that was presented to the Department in early 2016? There was obviously an acknowledgement that there were serious financial issues in the company and that corrective action needed to be taken, otherwise no plan would have been sought.

A full year has been lost by inaction on the part of the Minister and his predecessor. In terms of what could have been done, consideration could have been given to the use of better technology to ensure greater fuel efficiency across the full fleet of buses but that was not done last year. Last year, €7 million was paid for the hire of private coaches by Bus Éireann. We are now told it will be able to do without these coaches this year. We know that one of the main reasons for the spike in losses in 2016 was the high cost of insurance yet nothing has been done.

Why was the report commissioned by the Minister's predecessor brushed under the carpet? Why were other reports that we are told were presented to the Department in July, August and September not acted on? When was the Minister made aware of the challenges that Bus Éireann faces? Inaction on the part of the Minister and his predecessor has contributed to the precarious situation in which Bus Éireann now finds itself. The only time that the Minister has acknowledged that there was a problem with Bus Éireann was when he brought a memo in that regard to the Cabinet prior to Christmas. That memo was exclusively based on an information session or a briefing he had with the chairman of Bus Éireann. The Minister did not seek a copy of the report or obtain an alternative opinion on it: he just brought it to the Cabinet. Why was a full year wasted, leading to the need for a huge scurry of activity in the next couple of weeks?

I wish the new acting chief executive of Bus Éireann, Mr. Hernan, well. We all want to see Bus Éireann put on a sustainable footing for the benefit of all communities. The Minister may laugh but I do not think this is a laughing matter. We all want to see Bus Éireann put on a sustainable footing and to have our communities served by a good public transport service. We also want to see workers in Bus Éireann respected for the work they are doing. For any restructuring to work there needs to be buy-in from all stakeholders, including the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Bus Éireann management and workers, the unions representing the workers and the National Transport Authority, NTA. If Mr. Hernan thinks that by threatening unilateral pay cuts before any restructuring plan is finalised he will get buy-in, he is sadly mistaken. Savings or efficiencies can be achieved in Bus Éireann through non-pay cuts, examples of which I gave earlier. The unions representing the workers acknowledge that greater efficiencies can be achieved but they need to be consulted in that regard and to not have preconditions forced on them prior to negotiations.

Last week I posed the following question to the Minister in a Topical Issues debate. Has the Department reviewed how the NTA issues licences? If such a review has been carried out, when will it be made public in order that everybody can have the benefit of it? The Taoiseach has stated - this was repeated by the Minister in his reply to the Topical Issues debate last week - that the NTA has rejected more licences than it granted. However, neither have acknowledged the huge increase in the number of routes that have been brought on stream. There has been no comment on the fact that private operators have been enabled to cherry-pick and head-run, which is the facilitation of private operators with a licence to operate on routes ten minutes prior to an existing Bus Éireann service. I do not blame the NTA for this because it is only implementing Government policy but what it is doing in facilitating this practice is reducing the profitable elements of Bus Éireann. What I have taken from the Minister's very limited input in this matter over the last few weeks is that he is happy for the private operators to run the commercial routes between the large urban areas, with the PSO being left to pick up the remainder of the routes. Why are we taking our company off the profitable routes and telling them that the only routes on which they can operate are the PSO routes?

That is not fair or right. Although the NTA has the power to grant a licence, which may be granted on the basis of a private bus company servicing certain routes, there are no consequences if the company decides to no longer service the towns in question. That is not right or fair.

Why has the Minister not sought an increase in funding from the Department of Social Protection? There has been no increase in funding since 2010 despite a serious increase in the number of people availing of the service. The Minister and the rest of the Government are facilitating an attack on the workers without considering any of the other issues, including where savings can be generated. That is not fair. The Minister has a responsibility to ensure we have an efficient, effective, sustainable integrated public transport system in the future. It is time he stepped up to the plate and used this opportunity tonight to state how he will achieve this.

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