Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When will the Minister, the Government and the NTA take responsibility for the financial crisis affecting the Expressway service and admit it was caused by bad policy, poor decision-making and gross underfunding? The first cause of the crisis is the oversaturation of routes. Seat capacity on the Dublin to Cork route has grown by 128%. Seat capacity on the Dublin to Limerick route has grown by 111%. There are similar increases on the Dublin to Waterford route and other routes. The Minister said recently that only five licences were issued in recent years but what he did not say is they equate to 104 services on top of all the others, after the damage had been done.

The second cause is the Department of Social Protection's underfunding of the free travel pass. Travel providers only receive funding from the Department for 41% of the average fare and journey. That has contributed massively to the financial loss. According to Bus Éireann's annual accounts, it pumped €41 million from the Expressway business into the PSO network because of State underfunding. That €41 million would have gone a long way towards reducing the €5 million loss of the previous year, the €6 million or €9 million loss from last year - it was pumped up over the course of three weeks from €6 million to €9 million - and the predicted losses for this year. When Expressway was making money, it was pumped into the PSO network to make up for the lack of State funding. PSO funding has been slashed from €49 million in 2009 to €33 million this year. That is a huge cut in funding for a public service in which we were supposed to invest and enhance.

The public transport network in Ireland has the lowest subvention level in Europe. The workers did not cause that. The reason for this financial crisis is bad policy, poor decision-making and gross underfunding, yet recently, large severance packages were paid to the former CEO and top management. One wonders whether that was a reward for the crisis. Last week we questioned the new acting CEO who would not reveal his salary but confirmed the previous CEO was in receipt of a salary between €180,000 and €190,000. Let us compare that with the earnings of the average bus driver with 20 years' service who is on a meagre income of €624 per week. Where is the punishment for top management for mismanagement and bad policy making? The workers have been targeted. Bus workers with 20 years' experience on €624 are targeted but where is the punishment for those who created the crisis?

The acting CEO of Bus Éireann also confirmed that routes had been identified to be axed but he would not reveal them. They are being kept secret. One must ask why that is the case. Is it in order that this crisis can be played out and manufactured as an industrial relations crisis? Is it to target the workers, because target the workers is what the company did? The Minister was repeatedly asked to agree to engage in negotiations with all the stakeholders and he refused. Why was that the case? Was it because the workers were always going to be the soft target? That seems to have been the plan. Why did the Minister refuse to engage in negotiations and choose to target the workers? Was it because it covers up a multitude of mismanagement, bad policy and poor decision-making? Was the reason for refusing to engage with stakeholders due to the attempt to deliberately run down the public transport network through underfunding?

I stated the staff members were targeted but in fact they were given an ultimatum. Workers who did not create this crisis were given an ultimatum that was demeaning, inflammatory and provocative. It included a 30% cut in average pay. Sunday premium rates were slashed from 100% to 20%. The 100% reduction in shift payments means that workers will no longer be paid to work shifts. All drivers will have their current contracts changed. Privatisation will be introduced and the casualisation of work will commence. The company will decide when and where it brings in casual drivers. It can select from a pool of casual drivers with zero-hour contracts. The company will decide when to bring in outside contractors and the decision will be at its sole discretion. Bus Éireann workers can be left to sit at home while the company brings in contract drivers on the minimum wage. In the same breath, Bus Éireann classes itself as a premium employer. What we have seen transpire in recent weeks is a semi-State company being directed by the Government to instigate a race to the bottom for workers' rights and conditions. That is shocking.

The CEO and a Minister said the workers were being given a 2% increase. Bus Éireann management said out of the other side of its mouth that the 2% increase would be paid if the cashflow is available. One must bear in mind that 30% of the average wage has been taken off workers who might never get the 2% increase. They are the same workers who did not create the crisis.

I asked the Minister to commit, in conjunction with the NTA, to carry out and publish a review of the loss-making routes on which private operators currently operate.

The review should include the number of private licences issued on these routes, when the licences were issued and when these routes ceased to make a profit due to saturation. It should also provide for the NTA to assess the renewal of such licences that are making a loss. I also asked the Minister to commit to publishing details of routes and services that have been identified for potential closure. I asked the CEO of Bus Éireann that question at last week's meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. His response was that he did not want to identify the routes publicly because it would cause undue stress but the same acting CEO had no problem publicly telling workers that 2,600 workers could lose their jobs. He was not too concerned about causing stress or anxiety to the workers and their families.

Up until now, the Minister has adopted a hands-off approach. It is as if he is sitting on the bus and not driving it. In other words, it is as if does not have responsibility for his current portfolio. I am asking him to demonstrate leadership, to agree to intervene in the crisis and to instruct the management of Bus Éireann to engage with the stakeholders without any preconditions. If he does not engage at this stage, he knows what is down the road. It is very obvious that there will be chaos across the public transport network. He has a responsibility, as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, to try to resolve this matter. I plead with him to take responsibility in his role as Minister and request that the management of Bus Éireann engage with the unions - in the absence of the provocative ultimatum and preconditions - in order to find a resolution to this. If he does not do so and if the chaos we all know is about to unfold happens, he will be directly responsible for that chaos because he did not intervene. Under no circumstances will anybody absolve him of that responsibility. He is the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and has been called on repeatedly to intervene. Now is the time to ask the management of Bus Éireann to meet the unions without preconditions.

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