Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy, with five minutes each.

Bus Éireann is flouting the Government's protocols for the return to work, published on 9 May.

They require that if bus workers cannot social distance on Bus Éireann buses, there should be screens. There are no screens, however and bus workers are very concerned about the return to work that will see passenger numbers on the Bus Éireann fleet rise on Monday. Frankly, I think they would be right to walk off the job. There are no screens on 90% of the fleet and staff are having to handle cash without anywhere to put it. They are putting it in their pockets. The company will not allow passengers to get on buses through the middle doors where they would be away from the drivers. That is not acceptable and it flies in the face of the commitments the Minister gave just a moment ago. The social distancing protocols and the Government's Return to Work Safely protocol from 9 May need to be implemented immediately.

Second, taxi drivers, who are also front-line essential transport workers, are facing the absolute devastation of their livelihoods, not just in the short term, as many tens of thousands are at the moment, but in the medium to long term. For the foreseeable future, tourism into this country is a dead duck. Mass gatherings, the live entertainment industry and large sports gatherings, upon which taxi drivers depend to make their livelihoods viable, are not coming back in the foreseeable future. Therefore, there needs to be a package of financial supports for taxi drivers, who have insurance, car loans and mortgages to pay. They need certainty about income supports as long as their industry remains devastated. They need the NTA to provide and pay for partitioned screens in taxis so that drivers are safe, and sanitisers and other cleansing and disinfecting equipment must be made available to them.

I have two further brief points to make. A lot of people have, for obvious reasons, turned to cycling during this pandemic. That is good for public health and the environment, but we need to significantly expand the bike to work scheme, get rid of the five-year requirement to purchase a new bicycle and extend the scheme to people on social welfare and pensioners. If the Minister wanted to take the opportunity to be really radical in this area, he would give people free bicycles. That would be a radical and progressive move.

My final point relates to the tax saving scheme which allows workers to pay for their monthly or annual travel pass. They are paying for it out of their salaries and wages but are not able to make use of it at the moment. They should be given a break by offering them a refund of the money paid for their travel pass, or by enabling them to opt out and then opt back into the scheme so that they are not paying when they cannot use it.

I know the Minister will not be able to respond to all my points but I am making a particular shout-out for the bus workers. Another issue in this regard is that the cleansing and disinfecting teams who are supposed to be cleaning the buses are not working properly and are not cleansing and disinfecting the vehicles or many of the bus depots.

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