Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thought I had nailed the lie that this was privatisation. I thought Deputy Munster would know that this opening of the bus market is not privatisation. If she can explain to me what is being sold, I will listen to her. Nothing is being sold. None of the assets is being sold, as Deputy Munster knows full well. The privatisation scare will continue to come into this House as long as the Deputy does this. I hope she survives it because the privatisation scare simply does not hold any credibility. What is happening here is the allocation of some direct award contracts and some competitive tender contracts. These are running at approximately 10% in some cases. What we are seeing is a continuous attempt to dub this as privatisation. It is not privatisation because not a single State asset is being sold. What we are seeing is a certain amount of competition entering the market, which is welcome.

I agree with a good deal of what Deputy Munster said and I share one of her interests in this matter, namely, that this should not be about profit. I want to see revenue being generated and the companies doing well, but not primarily for the purpose of profit. I want passengers to get the most out of these companies. That is the objective and that is why we are putting these routes out to tender.

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