Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is the 12th day of an all-out strike at Bus Éireann and it has discommoded hundreds of thousands of people. I condemn the wildcat strike which took place unofficially last week and which brought this city and so many other places, as well hundreds of thousands of people, to a standstill. The Deputy mentioned that this would have been sorted out long ago if it was in Dublin, drawing an analogy that the country is being treated differently from other areas. The Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport has intervened in respect of policy decisions in so far as the PSO is concerned and his colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills has been looking at the question of the school transport system while the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has been looking at the question of rural transport take-up of any changes that might occur to the Expressway service. The Deputy said it is possible to cross-subsidise the service; my information is different. Subvention is only provided for PSO services and it cannot, under law, be provided for commercial services such as the Expressway service. The Deputy seems to have a different view on that and that is something I will check.

I hope the unions and management get together with the WRC. As the Deputy mentioned whatever way you look at it - and whatever you look at it, the Deputy is correct - there is a strike on here and the only way to settle that is around the table between unions and management. They have both agreed there are issues that need to be dealt with and the company needs to reform how it goes about its business to address the inefficiencies that exist. The place to settle those issues is not on the airwaves; it is around the table assisted by the WRC.

The Minister has been more than encouraging that unions and management would get together on this matter. The only parties that can agree a fair and acceptable deal to sort this out and have Bus Éireann continue to do the job it has done for many years are those in management and in unions. Nobody else can do that deal for them and no amount of taxpayer's money can solve the inefficiencies that both management and unions agree exist within the company. They both want to talk about them and the opportunity is available through the WRC to settle this.

On matters of policy, the Minister has been active. On matters of encouraging both sides, unions and management, to get back to talks at the WRC, I hope an invitation to resume those talks will be extended to them quickly and that people will understand that realistic negotiations between management and unions are required to solve these internal issues.

The WRC and the LRC are ready to assist, as they played a leading role in dealing with previous industrial relations within the CIE group. The biggest impact is on Bus Éireann's PSO network. Those who rely on those services have little alternative public transport options. The impact is lessened on the loss-making Expressway network as there are numerous competitors providing bus services in addition to the rail network. It is an issue that can only be sorted out at the WRC. I hope an invitation is extended to both union and management again quickly to do that.

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