Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of my party, I also welcome our colleagues from the House of Lords and the House of Commons to Leinster House.

Those in my party are saddened at the loss of the former Deputy, Peter Mathews. I take it that we may have an opportunity to comment later in light of Peter's recent membership of the House. He was a person with whom I and many Deputies got on well. He brought a freshness and a vigour of intellectual thought to the House that were valued. I was saddened to hear of his loss this morning. I wish to extend our fullest sympathies to his family. I hope that we will get an opportunity later to pay a longer tribute to him.

There are many issues of the day.

As predicted, we are rushing headlong into a major industrial dispute with the State bus company, Bus Éireann. The more than 110,000 regular passengers face chaos next Monday. The staff of 2,600 face very worrying times. They are concerned not only about their terms and conditions but the future of the company itself. It seems to them that in one fell swoop an attempt is being made to dramatically and fundamentally alter the nature of the company and the terms and conditions of its workers who perform a very valuable community and social service, in addition to its commercial activities. I put it to the Taoiseach some time ago as to whether the Government is committed to the maintenance of a State transport company, in particular one that provides a very significant service to regional and rural areas. If it does, then a lot of policy implications stem from that.

There have been warnings to the effect that the company is facing insolvency. If it is, that very much comes into the political domain because the Government is the shareholder and the matter would have to come before the Dáil in terms of any actions that would flow from a declaration of insolvency. The stance of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is not acceptable. He should have intervened much earlier. For the entirety of 2015 plans were submitted to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport but were left on the shelf because a general election was due at some stage in the following 12 months. In essence, that is the reason an intervention was not made, one that could have eased the situation somewhat, well in advance of the current crisis, but for political reasons the Government of the day decided not to act on plans that were submitted to it concerning the difficulties facing Bus Éireann. That inaction over a long period contributed to the current situation. The idea that one can do everything in one fell swoop and, essentially, accelerate a race to the bottom with regard to terms and conditions is a bridge too far and is one of the reasons we are now heading towards a major industrial conflict, one that could spread to Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and other companies, which would create chaos in people's everyday lives in terms of getting to work and accessing services. We all want to avoid that.

I put it to the Taoiseach time and again that at a minimum the Minister has a responsibility to set the mood music. One gets the sense that he is silently, on the margins, acquiescing to the demise of a State company - a bus transport company - as his own ideological position is one that does not lend itself to the continuation of Bus Éireann. I hope I am wrong. At the very least the Minister should have engaged on the policy issues such as the application of the free travel scheme and the public service obligation routes and facilitated meetings between his Department, the National Transport Authority, Bus Éireann management and unions to tease out the policy dimension to this issue. There are policy dimensions to it. It is not just simply an industrial relations issue that can be put into its box. I put it to the Taoiseach that that type of initiative is now urgently required. Will he discuss with the Minister the initiatives he can take to ensure a contribution is made by him and the Government to the resolution of this issue?

See this speech in context