Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is a crisis in public transport in Dublin. Mistakes were made time and again by various companies. It is not that long ago that the NTA and Dublin Bus reconfigured their routes, yet the situation has not improved significantly. That said, a number of the extended routes work very well.

Investment in CIE has decreased in recent years. For example, investment in Dublin Bus fell from €85.6 million in 2008 to €57.7 million in 2015. Although it increased slightly last year, it is nowhere near pre-2008 levels, which is where it should be going. We are supposed to be in recovery. Instead, investment is continually being undermined. The Government's response is to use the NTA as a shield against responsibility. The Minister stated that traffic congestion in Dublin cost the economy approximately €350 million, which is almost six times the amount of subvention that he is prepared to give Dublin Bus. It does not make sense.

I will remind the Minister of the feelings he expressed about CIE workers in an article back in the day. Regarding cuts at CIE, he wrote:

Not a bad idea as CIE has in recent years been exposed as a swamp of waste and skulduggery. Quangos like CIE and its three subsidiaries - Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann - are in dire need of efficiencies. There is plenty of fat hidden in the darker corners of these bloated bodies.

It is eloquent language, but it is clearly angry and directed at CIE's workers.

The NTA's actions have helped to shield the Minister from responsibility in the recent disputes. The various justifications that he and agencies have trotted out have everything to do with EU regulation and competition and nothing to do with a serious attempt to provide a decent transport service in this city despite the fact that, as the Minister knows, Dublin has one of the lowest PSO levels among major European cities. The Minister withdrew several million euro from Dublin Bus when it performed well a few years ago and the competition that the NTA facilitates produces lower pay levels and conditions for workers at every turn.

This is what has been at the heart of the Bus Éireann dispute and other disputes in Dublin Bus. The Government is now about to rebrand the NTA and Dublin Bus by painting bus stops and bus shelters and painting buses. Low emissions will be welcome but, on their own, they will not do the business unless we get cars off the road, and we will not get cars off the road until there is a major funding exercise in respect of public transport.

The grand announcement by the NTA is really a cover. It will be very expensive branding exercise and will certainly make the NTA look like it is providing the transport when in fact the three companies are providing it. The NTA constantly says that the conditions and pay of workers are none of its concern but it has no problem awarding contracts to companies which drive down the pay and conditions of other workers.

Those in Fianna Fáil seem to have had another collective case of amnesia because it was their party and the Green Party that began the cuts which led to this chaos and congestion, taking 200 buses from the Dublin Bus fleet back in the day-----

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