Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Each Deputy will have one minute and I ask them to respect that.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the bus workers from Bus Éireann who are in the Gallery. It is welcome that talks have been announced in the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, tomorrow. It is also very welcome that the workers are maintaining the pickets while those talks take place. Those talks will be absolutely fruitless unless three things happen: first, the Minister, Deputy Ross, increases the subvention that has been systematically cut from Bus Éireann; second, the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, increases the free travel subsidy that has also been cut; and third, that workers have their pay restored. The Minister has overseen the cutting of pay as he is a major shareholder. Routes have been cut as well. The X7 route from Dublin to Clonmel has been cut tonight. How does the Minister expect workers to go back to work when those things are being done to them? They have been implemented. I am sure the Minister has never been on a bus but this is their live livelihoods and that of their families.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

He was on one once. He tweeted about it.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We were told originally that this was about a €6 million loss at Expressway, but now the chief executive of Bus Éireann is talking about the need for €30 million in savings. Where does the €30 million figure come from? We know that under EU dictat by 2019, some 10% of Bus Éireann services must be opened up to competitive tender. Under this tender, all city services in Waterford will be included. Bus Éireann will be competing for those contracts against private operators, not the small fry but against big British companies. Their costs will be roughly equal except for the fact that Bus Éireann will have higher wage and pension costs. How can the Minister say this is not about a race to the bottom? How can he say this is not about driving down wages and conditions? How can he say it is about a €6 million deficit where the chief executive is looking for €30 million worth of savings clearly aimed at competing against private operators with a yellow-pack workforce on yellow-pack pay and conditions?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I salute the actions of the Bus Éireann workers. They are fighting not only in defence of their own terms and conditions, but for all who work in public transport. They are fighting for a defence of public transport which, particularly at a time of global climate crisis, is essential. Let us be clear that this is not a question of the Minister, Deputy Ross, or the Government being hands off. They are very much hands on. They are hands on with hands around the throats of the Bus Éireann workers as a result of the cuts that have been implemented and the refusal to increase the subsidy. This is an inherently and intensely political issue. Political pressure has to be mounted on the Minister, Deputy Ross, and on the Government to increase the subsidy to reverse the cuts. I turn to Fianna Fáil to ask what it will do to go beyond the words of sympathy that have been issued. What will it do to demand the cuts are reversed and to demand an increase in subsidy happens? Will Fianna Fáil back the strike or will it continue to back up this Government, which is responsible for this situation?

Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The time has come for tit-for-tat politics to end. It is time for the Government to lead through policy on Bus Éireann. Is it not enough for our public transport system to be at a standstill for 12 days? What is clear is that we are faced with two possible outcomes where either we find a solution to the current crisis or we see Bus Éireann go into examinership and then almost certainly insolvency.

My party's message is simple. We need to get our bus drivers back to work and our public transport system working efficiently. Nobody is asking the Minister to open a blank cheque book. We are simply asking the Minister to put in place a process to ensure there is a favourable outcome for the workers and the public. The bus drivers need to understand the dangers of examinership. They would have no negotiating position and pay cuts and job losses would be far worse. They need the Minister to come to the table. The Minister has said there are mechanisms in place to deal with industrial relations. However, he must now realise this will not be solved by following a set of guidelines. Flexibility is required.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. This is a huge issue right across the country. The Bus Éireann people have been out for a number of days. It has been well over a week now at this stage. There is no member of the press in the press gallery to report on this very important issue which is affecting rural Ireland as well as every other part of it. There have been threats of industrial action by school bus drivers down the line. This is a very fundamental issue.

The future of Bus Éireann is at stake as is the future of the livelihoods of those who are working within the companies and those who have given loyal service to the company over the years. It demands a greater degree of urgency than has been applied heretofore to try to resolve the issue. It has been long threatened. They have been out on strike for 11 or 12 days. It is simply not good enough. It is affecting the morale and economy of rural Ireland and not only the people who are out on the picket lines whose wages are affected.

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister finally awoke from his slumber last Friday morning, if only for an hour or so. There was one reason and one reason only for that - the disruption that was brought to his front door, that is, Dublin - yet the Minister's outsourcing and privatisation agenda takes precedence over the travelling public, over workers' rights and over rural Ireland. Any attempt by the Minister or the Government to decimate our public transport will not succeed. Any attempt by the Minister or the Government to break the backs of workers and their unions will not succeed. We are 12 days into a strike. We have the WRC negotiations starting tomorrow but all along the Minister completely and repeatedly refused to engage. If those negotiations do not work out, the Minister will have to, at this urgent stage, consider and give approval for his Department, the NTA, Bus Éireann management and the unions to enter into negotiations. It is a much bigger picture. It is about protecting and preserving our public transport network.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister's performance on this issue has been appalling and very disappointing. He is clearly a party to what will happen to public transport in the future because he is the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. He is the Minister. He seems to have forgotten that simple fact. He has been prepared to allow 100,000 people to wait morning after morning for this strike to be resolved and for 2,600 workers to have their pay and conditions slashed by 30% or more with threats to hundreds of jobs. He has sat there doing nothing like a hurler on the ditch or like a journalist observing things rather than taking action. He is a party to this; there is no question. Public transport is a public good. We have to provide funding and subventions as every other European country does up to 70%, 80% or 90%. The Minister has slashed the subvention and has not been prepared to come forward and play his role. I welcome the WRC move. The Minister should have appointed an intermediary months ago and got this resolved before there were any cuts.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is extraordinary how the Minister has managed to sit back for 12 days. I agree with Deputy Munster. It was even more extraordinary how quickly the Minister found the "Morning Ireland" studio last Friday when the commuters in Dublin South were suddenly affected. The Minister has questions to answer about the National Transport Authority. The reason Bus Éireann is in the space it is at present is the damage that has been done to Expressway because it has to do its business on a very different pitch to other operators. The Minister has a responsibility as a member of Cabinet, under the sectoral employment order, to bring decency and fairness for everybody who drives a bus and works in a bus company. The call of the Dáil is for the Minister to answer for that. The Minister also has a responsibility, as a member of Cabinet, to the regional towns and cities which have been absolutely decimated by this action. This is not the fault of the 2,000 workers. It is the fault of Bus Éireann management which has driven them to that and the fault of the Minister as the principal shareholder. The Minister was sitting there fiddling away and laughing to himself while 2,000 families and hundreds of thousands of people working in regional economies are suffering. The Minister should wake up.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was shocked when I read that the Minister's billionaire buddy from Ryanair thinks he is playing a stormer. I remind the Minister that this man caused a lockout in Dublin Airport in the mid-1990s because he refused to recognise trade unions.

6 o’clock

It is extraordinary to see him and the Minister on the same side of the pitch fighting ordinary working class people. What people on the picket line are saying about the Minister is that he is literally stepping aside, which is what he is passionately there to defend, namely, Stepaside.

What happened last Friday might have shook the Minister to his toes. He went on "Morning Ireland" with a compulsive reaction to condemn people who are present today to witness what he has to say about them. What they did last Friday was important. Otherwise, the Minister, the rest of the Government and the company would be ignoring what has been happening for 13 days. Shut down the capital and everyone wakes up and smells the coffee.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the determination and resolve of the 2,400 bus workers who have spent 12 days on the picket line defending themselves against unilateral and savage cuts to their pay and the public transport system.

In the Minister's attempt to justify his absence from the pitch and failure to intervene in this matter, he has repeated endlessly the mantra that he does not have a chequebook to solve this dispute. I will make a simple proposal. It was revealed over the weekend that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, had €100 million that it did not expect thanks to a refund from Revenue. It would cost €7 million to €9 million to solve this dispute. That money is going a begging, it is not earmarked for anything and it is under the Minister's remit. Nothing would be more appropriate than money from TII being used to resolve the Bus Éireann dispute and ensure that these workers and public services do not have to accept savage cuts. Will the Minister use that money to resolve the dispute so that these workers can return to work on fair pay and conditions?

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to remark on two comments that were made over the weekend, one by Michael O'Leary, the enemy of the working class, and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar. The Minister basically stated that the company should fold. That is the Government's ideology. Michael O'Leary praised the Minister, Deputy Ross, for not intervening. This man is the prince of darkness to me. He is the enemy of the working class.

The Government's ideology is to privatise a public service. The House debates rural Ireland and its decline. This is a good public service in rural Ireland that the Government is removing. That is more detrimental than anything else in the world. The Minister must step forward and resolve the strike.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is a bit of a dichotomy in the media between rural and urban Ireland that misses the fact that this dispute has brought Ireland's second largest city of Cork and many other of our major cities to a standstill. The Cork Business Association estimates that footfall in that city has fallen between 30% and 50%. That would not be allowed to happen in Dublin. The Minister's response and that of many other Government representatives on the day of the actions at Dublin Bus reflect that. This is happening on the Minister's watch. It is not the responsibility or fault of workers who are rightly rejecting savage pay cuts of as much as 30%. No worker could accept or tolerate cuts of that level. I put it to the Minister at the transport committee that there was no good reason not to intervene. This is one of the most important pieces of strategic infrastructure in the State. It delivers people to education, work and hospitals, yet the Minister is allowing it to fall idle. This is the Minister's responsibility.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister has called on people to open their minds and try to find a solution, but he is ideologically predisposed towards not finding a solution or allowing the workers and others to come together in a meaningful forum through which they could address the underlying problems facing Bus Éireann. We all know what they are. The Minister cannot expect the company's problems to be resolved on the shoulders of its bus drivers and workers in general. A strategic plan for Bus Éireann and its national obligations must be put in place.

The Minister must become the relevant Minister. He has been irrelevant on this issue for a long time. He must now step up to the plate. He has shown that he is able to get involved in cronyism and pork barrel politics by opening up the Stepaside Garda station, but on a fundamental issue of national interest, he takes no interest. Please bring everyone together and ensure that there is a viable plan, one that does not mean that every worker must take a large pay cut to fund the company's required restructuring.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister is characterising this dispute as being just like any other industrial dispute, that it is all about the terms and conditions of workers, and asking why the two sides do not just get together, talk it out and negotiate a settlement. As he knows, this dispute is far more complex than that. The message that he is sending to the workers is that they will have to carry the entire burden of this deficit. That is not a sustainable or tenable position. The Minister needs to signal that he is prepared to engage in meaningful talks on a parallel basis with the key stakeholders - the company, the NTA and the Department of Social Protection in respect of the free travel scheme. The Minister's Department needs to be at the heart of that. A proper, sustainable plan for Bus Éireann is necessary, but there is none. The Minister cannot expect the entirety of the burden to be carried by the workers. Deal with that. The Minister should face up to his responsibilities.

The impact on Cork city and its suburbs has been extremely serious for traders, passengers and, not least, the workers, who have been without pay for 12 days. Please deal with it.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their constructive responses. I welcome this afternoon's announcement that both parties have accepted an invitation from the WRC to recommence discussions. I hope that they can use this opportunity to agree an acceptable and fair deal. The travelling public in particular will expect that the parties can come to an agreement that allows for an end to this recent period of disruption to transport services.

The core of the dispute relates to how Bus Éireann organises itself and uses its people and resources to deliver the services that it provides. Management and unions agree that there are inefficiencies in that organisation and use of people and resources and that improvements are possible. This is the basis for agreement. These issues are fundamental to resolving the dispute. Most importantly, they can only be resolved by those parties with real insight into the impact they have on the company and its finances, namely, the management and unions.

I do not assume that these reconvened discussions will be easy for either party. There will be a need for flexibility and compromise, but the dispute will only be resolved at these discussions and nowhere else. I am aware of the calls of some for ministerial intervention. Interestingly, I have heard trade union representatives making it clear that they see no role for a Minister in industrial relations negotiations. I suggest that the House might be better served by heeding that insight.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Which trade unions said that?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have intervened where I believe it to be appropriate for me as Minister to do so. I have intervened to secure increased funding for those socially necessary but financially non-viable PSO services. Bus Éireann benefitted from that increase last year and will benefit again this year. I have intervened to state publicly my commitment to increasing that PSO allocation in future budgets as resources allow. I have intervened to ensure that the funding arrangements for the free travel scheme are examined to ensure equity and transparency across commercially licensed bus operators. This examination is almost complete and the issue will be resolved satisfactorily. I have assured rural Ireland that the NTA has the powers and resources necessary to ensure that transport connectivity is maintained when commercial bus services are altered. That assurance has taken a tangible form in the NTA's response to recent Expressway changes with increased PSO services and amended rural transport services being provided.

I have stated that I am willing to consider any amendments to the commercial bus licensing system that my Department might recommend. I have shared a copy of an NTA report on the licensing system with the joint Oireachtas committee and invited it to make its own submission. I have also confirmed my willingness to meet with all stakeholders on transport policy issues, but quite reasonably have also stated that those meetings cannot take place against a backdrop of industrial action or the threat of such action. To say there has been no ministerial intervention is wrong. I will reiterate what has been my position from the start. I will not intervene in areas where it is not appropriate for a Minister to intervene. I will not dictate to management and unions an agreement that only they can craft because it relates to issues into which only they have an insight. The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court are ready and able to assist both parties in coming to that agreement.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will the House agree to an additional minute speaking time for the Minister? Agreed.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the House. I want a public transport system that delivers for all of society, one that provides the infrastructure and services that a 21st century Ireland demands and requires. I genuinely believe that Bus Éireann has a role to play in that system and I have no wish to privatise it, as has been alleged in many quarters many times. I believe the company can continue to serve rural Ireland and our regional cities but to do that there is a need for discussions and agreement between management and unions. The WRC is the correct forum for those discussions. I again welcome that both parties have this afternoon accepted an invitation to recommence discussions in the WRC. I know that both sides and all members of this House want to see this situation resolved. I am sure that the State's industrial relations bodies can help to deliver that resolution.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Ross, has come a long way from when he was on this side of the House ranting and raving. Some people were fooled by the label "Independent" in that they actually thought that he was independent. This is a wish fulfilment for the Minister. According to Michael O'Leary, the Minister is playing a blinder. However, he has an ideological opposition to public services and trade unions, as has the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar.

Last Friday, workers across the three companies showed solidarity with each other. My response to the people who ask why this was not announced in advance is that years of anti-union laws have made such solidarity illegal - the kind of solidarity on which unions were founded in the first instance and were forged by people like Connolly, Larkin and those who fought in 1913 in this city. Solidarity action across the three companies will be essential to win this dispute. I applaud the workers for respecting and knowing that. We must now fight this industrial relations act in order to bring back workers' power in this country.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is rage at the Minister across the country outside of Dublin, including in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and the smaller towns and among stranded passengers, including elderly passengers, workers who have to pay for taxis to get to work and businesses that have been hit hard. In an unpopular Government, with unpopular Ministers, the Minister, Deputy Ross, is the most unpopular of all. Those angry people will not tolerate another round the mulberry bush episode at the Workplace Relations Commission which shows no way forward. The way forward is a commitment from the Minister to an increase in subvention for proper public transport services and the agreement of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, to properly compensate Bus Éireann for its participation in the free travel pass scheme. Without that, all we have is a low pay agenda, a race to the bottom agenda and a privatisation agenda. There is no way people will continue to suffer in silence while the Minister pursues an agenda of this kind. The message from those people and from workers around the country, including Dublin, is, "Resolve this dispute: fund public transport."

Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport on 22 February, Ms Anne Graham CEO of the NTA said: "I cannot give an undertaking that the same level of service would be put in place in regard to those routes...". The NTA has a major role to play in this dispute. This dispute would never have come about if the NTA had been more considerate. The NTA has the power to grant licences but it does not have the power to amend them. Some private operators were granted licences on the basis that they would serve particular country towns but when they curtailed their services to some of these towns there was no clawback of the licence. How can we have fair competition with Bus Éireann on those routes?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

When a dispute arises such that people are on the picket lines, it is not right that a Minister would make a statement to the effect that a particular company can be done without, as the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, did in relation to Bus Éireann earlier this week. Bus Éireann is a company that primarily services rural Ireland. The rural population of this country, as citizens of this State, are as entitled to public transport as citizens in Dublin or any other part of the country. This dispute has been allowed to drift on for 12 days. The Minister repeated again today that he will not intervene in this dispute. The message must go out from Government that Bus Éireann will remain a public service company to provide services for rural communities and that all of Government supports the survival of this company and the staff that man it.

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On April fool's day a pay rise of €5,000 kicked in for Deputies. At least 90 Deputies, the bulk of whom are members of Government, snapped up that pay rise with both hands. Those same Deputies think that workers should accept a 30% cut in their wages. They think that it is fair that bus workers would accept a 30% cut in their wages. Those Deputies are hiding behind and, at the same time, backing the Minister, Deputy Ross, in his attempts to run our public transport network into the ground to suit his agenda of privatisation. Public transport, like education and housing, is a public service. There are hundreds of thousands of people who depend on public transport on a daily basis.

If the talks at the WRC do not work out and if the Minister persists with his agenda of privatisation and a race to the bottom of workers' rights the result will be the mother of all strikes. The Minister and the Government will be directly responsible for the chaos that will ensue when that happens.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister's reply is incredibly contradictory. His statement that he has intervened to secure increased funding for socially necessary transport and free travel and that he is reviewing the commercial bus licensing system indicates that he knows he has a key role in the future of our public transport system. The workers and management negotiating need to know these facts. The Minister is the only person who can give them that information. He has a cheek to talk about productivity. Since 2009-2010, when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael set up the current system of bus licensing which got us into the situation we are in today, there have been massive increases in productivity by bus workers in Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail despite savage cuts in pay and staff numbers. These workers have been the lifeblood of the public transport system. The Minister has been extremely disrespectful to them this evening.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister assumed office on 6 May last, at which time he was made aware of the difficulties facing Bus Éireann. The Minister has claimed credit for securing an extra PSO but he has done nothing to address the issue of funding within the CIE group. He has not explained why Bus Éireann is paid a lower subvention than Dublin Bus or Irish Rail and he has done nothing about the employment conditions for workers within Bus Éireann or the transport industry generally despite the wish of this House that a sectoral employment order be established. The Minister, in his contribution, did not recognise the damage the strike is doing to regional cities and towns across the country.

Towns and cities that should be at the core of the retail business are being absolutely decimated. The Minister has done nothing to recognise that over 2,000 staff and their families have not been paid for 12 days because they are fighting for their rights. It is time for the Minister to wake up and smell the coffee in Stepaside and other parts of the country. He is standing by while our transport system comes to a halt. He needs to get to work.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Broughan that the Minister's response illustrated to us that he has changed his tune. He is now acknowledging that as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, he is up to his neck in it. It is a bit ironic for him to say that ministerial intervention is never required in industrial disputes given that not so long ago, the threat of a blue flu by An Garda Síochána led his Government to intervene by finding €40 million to settle the issue. The provision of that €40 million was announced by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. It is wrong to say that Ministers do not intervene, as I have mentioned a case in which there was ministerial intervention. Why does the Minister think gardaí are more important as public servants than bus drivers? Why does he think they should get preferential treatment? Why did they not have to go out on strike, given that Bus Éireann workers have spent the last 13 days on the picket line without pay? They have been receiving the brunt of the anger and ire of people who have been discommoded. They have unfairly been described as being, at some level, the worst enemies of this country. Indeed they are not. I would like the Minister to answer the question I have asked about their role.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I suggest that after this discussion, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport should meet the transport workers who provide the transport service. They will explain to him that this crisis has been manufactured, the game is rigged and the playing field is not level. Everything has conspired to force this dispute. The workers who have been suffering on the picket line for 12 days are determined that they will not be done down to the extent of 30% pay cuts and an assault on our public transport system. The Minister did not respond to what I said about TII's revelation that it has an extra €100 million it did not expect to have. I reiterate that €100 million is going a-begging. What would be more appropriate than spending some of this additional €100 million, which is not earmarked for anything, on the resolution of a national transport strike that is about protecting our bus transport infrastructure and ensuring towns and villages up and down this country have a public service transport infrastructure? The Minister should meet the workers and he should take some money from TII.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I want to state some facts that get to the nub of this dispute. The Belgian Government pays 78% towards the PSO as it is known in Ireland. The equivalent figure is 51% in Switzerland, 49% in Holland and 12% in Ireland, which is in last place. The underfunding of a public service like Bus Éireann was destined to end in a crisis. This crisis is not confined to Bus Éireann. We also need to look at what will happen in Dublin Bus over the next year when 10% of its routes are opened to private operators. The exact same thing that is happening to Bus Éireann workers will happen to Dublin Bus workers. This is an ideological assault on public transport in Ireland. It is time for the Minister to get his finger out.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister's policy is wrong because it is crippling Cork, other regional cities and rural Ireland and it is putting workers in an impossible position by asking them to accept outrageous pay cuts. It is monumentally short-sighted because at a time when our cities are becoming more and more clogged up with cars, we need more investment in public transport. Such investment is the right thing to do economically, socially and environmentally. It is difficult not to conclude that the short-sighted approach that is being pursued at present has not come about by accident or on account of laziness, but has been arrived at on foot of deliberate Government policy. The Minister seems to be a fan of paper walls between himself and Bus Éireann and between Expressway and the PSO routes. I would like to compare the operation of the route between Cork and Waterford by a private operator with how it is operated by Bus Éireann. The Bus Éireann service stops in ten places, including small villages. That is a public service and the Minister needs to recognise that. It is only through his intervention that we will be able to have the full conversation.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We need the Minister to come up quickly with a forum that gives people confidence that he and the Government are committed to public transport. There is no doubt that Bus Éireann is trying to provide a service with one arm tied behind its back. Unfair advantages are being afforded to private operators that are in competition with Bus Éireann, which is trying to meet its public service obligation. It is quite evident from the figures and statistics that Bus Éireann is not competing on a level playing pitch. Private operators must be obliged to have some public service obligations too. The Government cannot consistently allow routes to be cherry-picked by the private operators, while at the same time wondering why Bus Éireann is having difficulties with its financial viability. We are not asking the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to get involved in the industrial relations side of this matter. We want him to intervene on the transportation side of it to ensure the Government has a proper policy for public service transport.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister has spoken about inefficiencies. The unions have publicly recognised their own responsibilities in that regard. Unions enter negotiations and compromise. That is what they do. Although the Minister is right when he says inefficient work practices have to be resolved by negotiation, he is not fulfilling his own responsibilities. He mentioned that the examination of the free travel scheme "is almost complete and the issue will be resolved satisfactorily". As we know, Bus Éireann receives far less compensation than private operators in respect of passengers who use the free travel scheme. That is part of the solution. The management of Bus Éireann is staring down the barrel of examinership as it tries to close a deficit. The Minister is saying that part of the solution is almost complete. He needs to deal with that part of the solution to this problem. We have been told that efficiencies were used to find €50 million for the gardaí and a further €120 million to bring forward the €1,000 increase under the Lansdowne Road agreement. Where are the inefficiencies that are now being converted to efficiencies to make savings of €170 million? They are invisible. Against that backdrop, the Minister's failure to resolve this issue tells us all that there is an agenda at play here.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies again for their contributions. I get the feeling that the prospect of a resolution of this problem does not fill the Deputies' hearts with joy. Some of the things that were said here this afternoon were foolish and unhelpful to a resolution. I would have expected every Deputy to join me in welcoming the fact that both parties have now gone back to the WRC. That is a very healthy development. It is exactly what we have been looking for. It offers the only prospect of success. I do not think it is a genuine or helpful addition to the debate that is going on outside this House for Deputies to come in here and indulge themselves in condemnations and clichés. I hope the debate in question will intensify at the WRC tomorrow.

I would like to answer some of the questions that have been asked. While much of what the Deputies have said is quite genuine, they have to accept the bona fides of people who think differently. Deputy Barry suggested that I am the "most unpopular" Minister in the country and that I am not very popular in certain areas. I remind him that I am not here to be popular. I am here to make the right decisions. I am not here to jump on bandwagons or to stir discontent before riding on the back of it.

I am here to make decisions which I think are in the interests of the taxpayer and the travelling public. That is my job. I was in opposition for a long time and understand from where Deputies are coming. I do not intend to be popular by uttering the same clichés.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Can the Minister answer the question on Transport Infrastructure Ireland-----

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If Deputy Martin was as accurate with his accusations as he was with what he said today on Leaders' Questions, it would be helpful. He was completely wrong in what he said on Leaders' Questions today. He should check his facts before he comes into the House and makes statements of the sort he did.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am being very fair. I ask the Minister to concentrate on-----

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I accept a lot of what people say about the public transport system. As Deputies Broughan, Bríd Smith and others said, it is my business to get involved in many of the issues they mentioned. I will get involved in those issues. I repeat my public offer to the unions, management, the NTA and all stakeholders that the moment the dispute is over, I will be happy to welcome them to the table to address those issues. That is what I will do.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to address privatisation because the mantra is repeated time and again. Privatisation is not on the agenda. Those who say it is are deliberately misleading the people in the Gallery. I have no intention of going down that road, nor will I do so.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is exactly what was happening.