Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the news that Go-Ahead will have its full complement by Christmas. As I said from the beginning, if a company tendered for a service, it should be in a position to deliver it. In that context, we should not be playing catch-up, particularly where people's lives are concerned. We only have to look at the discrepancy between the number of routes Dublin Bus operates and the number Go-Ahead operates. Dublin Bus received fines of €1.5 million whereas Go-Ahead, with a fraction of the bus services of Dublin Bus, received fines of €850,000. I appreciate that there are staff shortages right across the economy; it is because the economy is growing fast, which is to be welcomed. However, we have to look at what the manpower issues are in the transport industry. We are getting similar concerns from Dublin Bus on the 40 bus route, where buses are again being cancelled. If this is widespread, we are going to have to examine the terms, the conditions and the working environment. Of course, Covid impacts those people on the front line but there is nothing new about that and we have known about it for some time. Operators like Go-Ahead should have done far more far sooner.

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