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

Since 2016, the NTA, under EU regulations, has had to pay a reasonable profit on PSO services to CIE companies. Where a reasonable profit is paid to a director or operator, it is a matter for that company to decide how it wishes to apply these funds. It goes through all the possible applications of reasonable profit. No one is arguing that Bus Éireann is not very successful at discharging its PSO service obligations because it is. One of the anomalies that has arisen is with regard to the amount paid to the two semi-State bus companies. Why is Bus Éireann being paid so little in contrast to Dublin Bus? In 2016, Bus Éireann was only paid €400,000 in reasonable profit while Dublin Bus was paid €4.5 million. That is 11 times more than Bus Éireann. That is despite the fact that Bus Éireann is paid a lower subsidy per passenger than Dublin Bus for PSO services. If the Government was serious about this and committed to it, there are ways and means of contributing to its resolution, not by saying it is entirely the workers of the company who have to bear the brunt of all of the restructuring, which is what has happened to date. People are facing 30% cuts in their take home pay. That is the Government position.

The company is fortified by the position taken by the Government and the Minister, which is a race to a bottom in terms of wages. It is a savage cut and a disproportionate burden on the workers in terms of the restructuring and the transport policy dimensions which not only involve what I have just spoken about but also the free travel issue. The company has lost a lot since 2010 in terms of the subsidy it used to enjoy per free travel passenger. The Taoiseach has an obligation for the Government to make sure this is resolved fairly quickly. What I said to the Taoiseach at the outset is not my opinion. It is the opinion of the people across the country that if this was in Dublin it would have been resolved a long time ago. That is what the people are saying across the regions.

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