Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The acting chief executive of Bus Éireann has raised the question of declaring the company insolvent as a real possibility. It is striking that there has been little public debate on this issue. Bus Éireann plays a major role in the life of this nation, including rural Ireland, the cities outside the capital and the school transport system. The closure of Bus Éireann would mean €59 million payroll taxes from its 2,600 workers being lost, as well as the expense of hundreds of millions of euro in redundancy and social welfare payments. Perhaps the Tánaiste can tell the House the exact amounts that would be involved.

On the "Six One" news programme yesterday, Ingrid Miley said Bus Éireann management had pulled the pin out of the grenade. It was an apt metaphor for what is a declaration of war on workers' wages as many workers will lose €4,000 or €5,000 in take-home pay under the plans. It is also a war on bus services. Dates have now been provided for the axing of some routes and the cutting back of others.

The stakes in this dispute are high, and include the protection of take-home pay, the future of Bus Éireann and the future of public transport in the State. It is in the interests of every public transport worker and everyone who cares about public transport that Bus Éireann workers defeat these cuts and that the Government is forced to properly fund public transport. A national public transport strike involving significant solidarity action from Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus workers could turn a long drawn-out battle with an uncertain outcome into a shorter and sharper clash which secures victory for the bus workers and forces the Government to invest in public transport. Such action now needs to be given very serious consideration.

Public transport in the State is significantly underfunded. The PSO subvention covers a mere 10% of total income, compared to more than 50% in other European states. If Bus Éireann was compensated in full for its free travel pass work it would receive an extra €17 million and the crisis would be averted. Instead, we have a do-nothing Government and a do-nothing Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport who refuses to intervene. The Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, acts as though he is on an episode of "Friends", the one where Ross folds his arms, tells us that it is a doddle and lets the national bus company go to the wall.

What will that cost? Can the Tánaiste give us a precise or an approximate figure? The figure could end up being the cost of the Government's desire to facilitate a low pay and privatisation agenda by doing nothing.

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