Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The events of the past few weeks have been a hallmark of the Fine Gael-led Government in the past six years. When an issue in the public eye issues develops into an all-out crisis it wants to avoid intervention at all costs in the deluded notion that the issue will somehow resolve itself.

10 o’clock

Tonight, when we look across at the Government benches, we see that the Government had to get a Minister of State from the city to speak on behalf of Fine Gael's rural Deputies. This shows the level of the Government's interest in supporting the rural transport service and, more importantly, the Expressway service. This is the real world and the Minister's hands-off approach to the crisis has only allowed it to worsen and deepen public concern. When the Minister states it is not in the interests of the taxpayer for him to intervene in a dispute involving a semi-State body that is funded partially by the taxpayer and in which the Government is a stakeholder, it raises serious questions about whether he or the Government has a serious interest in it. I have realised the gravity of the situation. Why does it take an Opposition party to table a Private Members' motion on every crisis before the Government will even have a discussion on it? I have no doubt that it would have also been happy to let this one pass by if Fianna Fáil, in particular, Deputy Robert Troy, had not tabled this Private Members' motion.

That the Government is happy to allow cuts to be imposed unilaterally on workers, without round table discussions with unions, can be compared to the hard right-wing attitude in the United Kingdom in the 1980s when Mrs. Margaret Thatcher refused to engage with the coalminers. Social partnership which was introduced by Fianna Fáil and Charles Haughey in the 1980s was a mechanism that included consultation between workers, employers, unions and the Government. Some of those on the Opposition benches may regard "social partnership" as a dirty phrase today, but at least it was a mechanism to engage with all stakeholders when issues such as this arose. In that regard, I am sorry to see that some of the earlier speakers are not present. Furthermore, we have a Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Employment who has made no comment on an issue, even though so many jobs are at stake.

Last Thursday I was at a well attended public meeting in Youghal, a town that needs guaranteed connectivity with the cities. The message given was that this was a social as well as a transport service. I agree with my party that a review of the licensing system, in conjunction with the NTA, is necessary. The NTA should ensure wider concerns about rural isolation and whether competition is sustainable on certain routes are included in decisions in granting or refusing bus licences to operators. New entrants to the market have placed great strain on many Bus Éireann services. Strict regulations need to be put in place to ensure services will remain in place and to assess whether competition is viable on certain routes.

I ask the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, if the acting CEO of Bus Éireann was handpicked by him and, if so, why? Was it because he seemed to be singing from the same hymn book? Last week Mr. Ray Hernan stated at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport, "I have been involved in only one reorganisation before, in my role as CEO and, previously, CFO with Arnotts." He continued, "The essential piece of my plan was, 'you are getting no more money'." The Minister seems to be singing the same hymn.

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