Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is extraordinary how the Minister has managed to sit back for 12 days. I agree with Deputy Munster. It was even more extraordinary how quickly the Minister found the "Morning Ireland" studio last Friday when the commuters in Dublin South were suddenly affected. The Minister has questions to answer about the National Transport Authority. The reason Bus Éireann is in the space it is at present is the damage that has been done to Expressway because it has to do its business on a very different pitch to other operators. The Minister has a responsibility as a member of Cabinet, under the sectoral employment order, to bring decency and fairness for everybody who drives a bus and works in a bus company. The call of the Dáil is for the Minister to answer for that. The Minister also has a responsibility, as a member of Cabinet, to the regional towns and cities which have been absolutely decimated by this action. This is not the fault of the 2,000 workers. It is the fault of Bus Éireann management which has driven them to that and the fault of the Minister as the principal shareholder. The Minister was sitting there fiddling away and laughing to himself while 2,000 families and hundreds of thousands of people working in regional economies are suffering. The Minister should wake up.

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