Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I strongly believe that Cork city needs to move towards having fewer cars, more public transport and more bicycles on the road. Key to making public transport more attractive is to slash fares, even going so far as to make fares entirely free. Given this, I am disturbed that the Minister's reply holds open the real possibility that 12 strategic transport corridors could go out to tender. If they do, the Minister and I know that private companies which pay lower wages will have a competitive advantage and could end up operating at least some of those routes. Cork city has never in modern times had key bus routes run by private operators on a for-profit basis. Privatisation would be a big step backwards and potentially is being facilitated by BusConnects Cork. I ask the Minister to comment further on the matter.

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