Results 9,081-9,100 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: I will answer the first question first. Way over 50% of the subvention is spent outside Dublin. There is no doubt about that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: I will come back to the Deputy in a moment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: The subsidy is provided as per the contracts and is based on EU regulations. The subsidy is not provided, as the Deputy was calculating there, by head of population. It is based on the continued levels of service provided. It is not done per capitaor per population or anything like that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: It is not done per head of population.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: It is done on the contracted levels of service provided.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: Some of the figures being sought are not readily available but I am happy to provide them to members.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: The answer to the last question is that it is a NTA decision, it is not a decision of mine at all.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: The NTA decides the allocations between the various companies.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: That is its legal role and the Deputy knows that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: Let me finish and I will answer the Deputy's other question. The subsidy is provided as per the contracts which are drawn up. It is based on EU regulations and on those contracts and it is not provided per head of the population, it is based on the contracted levels of services provided. That is the answer.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: The private operators do accept free travel passes, but not all of them.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: They do.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: No, they are not required to, but some do. More than 90 operators do. The Senator has to be aware of that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: They are certainly not required to, I agree, but they do so.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: It is optional for them to do so. It is worth looking at the model on a continual basis and we are happy to do that but at the moment there is an enormous amount of criticism at the way the model operates. The results we have recently are very good. Passenger numbers are going up, revenue is going up so there is something to be said for it. The models are working in parallel and in tandem.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: I do not think that is the case for a moment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: I will answer that as clearly as I can. The under-funding of free travel is being addressed as we speak, so the answer to the Senator's question is yes but it is being addressed this week. The officials in my Department-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: We are looking at everything. To clear something up, the majority of passengers on the Expressway service are not free travel passengers. That is not the case. The Senator can be assured of that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: No member of my Department has gone in and done a full examination of what the Deputy refers to, that is a matter for the board of Bus Éireann. Who they employ and what they pay them, within guidelines, is a matter for the board. It is something the Deputy justifiably raises as an issue. I do not know whether it is a matter of contention but it is a fair thing to comment on. It would...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Éireann: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)
Shane Ross: Most of the PSO runs?