Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When an economy is beginning to move and things begin to improve, expectations rise with that. We have had concerns and difficulties in respect of nurses, one sector of teachers, some consultants, the issue of public pay, the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, legislation and the putting together of a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement. Obviously, the Government does not have the resources to deal with all of those claims at once. That is why discussions are very necessary.

Deputy Howlin asked a number of questions. If what the Deputy proclaims is true, namely, that management wishes to bypass the rights of workers in the language he described, I would say to management and to unions that the facilities the Deputy has often mentioned are available for everybody to use to their fullest extent to sort out complex difficulties which require negotiation and the determination of solutions that will benefit everybody.

I agree there must be clear rules in the design or redesign of any scheme. I agree it should be for the benefit of those who work in the company and for the hundreds of thousands of members of the public who use Bus Éireann services. The Government is not a bystander here. It has increased the subvention for the schemes provided by Bus Éireann on which 81% of its passengers are carried. Government has a role with the National Transport Authority, which provides and will continue to provide opportunities for further transport where services will be disrupted arising from the discussions that take place between management and unions in respect of Expressway. In that sense, the Government is not a bystander in the support it provides for many rural transport links across the country on a small community and personal basis for people.

The Minister, Deputy Ross, no more than any other Minister for transport, has encouraged people to come together and use the machinery that has been set up and tried and tested in very many difficult circumstances over the years. Nobody wants to see hundreds of thousands of members of the public discommoded over an issue that must and can only be sorted out by people sitting around the table where the experience and expertise of the machinery of the State is available. I hope, arising from the Deputy's questions and those asked by Deputy Martin and Deputy Adams here in the Dáil, that the message goes out that this has got to be sorted and that is the way to sort it.

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