Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Does the Taoiseach have any idea of how anxious the hundreds of thousands people are around the country who depend on public transport? The Government seems to be marching blindly over the cliff edge on this matter. For weeks we have been listening to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, saying it has nothing to do with him, but the fact is that Bus Éireann is fully owned by the Government on behalf of the people of Ireland, with ownership of the company being vested in the Minister. We have heard that Bus Éireann is facing possible insolvency and we know that its staff are standing on the brink of an all-out strike. Such a strike would make the already perilous financial position of the company even more acute. This has come about because management reneged on its existing deal with workers. We hear through the media that even some of the Taoiseach's colleagues are growing tired of the Minister abdicating his responsibility in the matter. He is a man with a title who will not take on the job he was given. I have asked repeatedly the Taoiseach to do something about this. We all know that these issues can be resolved but only through intervention and dialogue. I have asked the Taoiseach several times to ensure the Minister and the National Transport Authority, NTA, sit down with management and the trade unions in Bus Éireann to begin formulating a solution. Standing back is patently making matters worse and all the more difficult to reach the solution that has to be found.

The situation at Bus Éireann is another example of the Government's cack-handed approach to industrial relations. Nobody is saying a Minister should be involved in every meeting or intervene immediately in every industrial relations dispute. However, when matters are escalating, it is often the wise thing to do and has been the practice for decades. During the term of the last Government there were plenty of occasions when I, as Minister, was directly involved in meeting trade union representatives to defuse potentially damaging situations.

It was about listening, hearing and responding - in a word, managing. The same was true of other Ministers.

The involvement of a Minister does not always bring matters to a conclusion, and certainly not straight away, but it helps to move matters in the proper direction. We now have a Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport who simply will not engage. Apparently, he is waiting for a solution to fall from the sky. That will not happen. Will the Taoiseach direct the Minister to sit down with the NTA, Bus Éireann and the trade unions before this matter reaches the point of no return and significant damage is done not only to a valuable State company, but also to the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on Bus Éireann and other public transport companies to get to work and carry out their lives in a normal fashion?

See this speech in context