Seanad debates

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Transport (Córas Iompair Éireann and Subsidiary Companies Borrowings) Bill 2012: Second Stage

 

11:50 am

Photo of Paschal MooneyPaschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his very comprehensive outline of the Government's strategy for public transport in the context of the Bill which Fianna Fáil will be supporting, given its importance.

As the Minister of State outlined, CIE is in a very dark place. Its future, according to a recent auditor's report, is under serious threat. During the summer the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport announced that he would allocate a sum of ¤36 million to help the company to get over its immediate financial difficulties, but that was later withdrawn. Perhaps the Minister of State might indicate the current status of that allocation of ¤36 million. Will it be allocated to CIE? In the context of the latitude being given to CIE under the Bill, I am curious about that sum, as it seemed to be needed as a stop-gap to ensure the continued viability of the services of the company.

The main stakeholders in the transport sector appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, of which I am a member, a number of weeks ago. While I accept that the Bill is concerned with CIE and its borrowing requirements, I am a little disappointed that the Minister of State did not make any reference to the private sector. Private sector transport services are growing and I would like to know what is the Government's policy on competitive tendering for routes. The previous Government was under pressure from the European Commission to deregulate transport services to a greater degree. I am a firm supporter of public transport and CIE. Its workforce and the unions have shown commendable restraint since 2008, when the company last made a profit. There have been major job losses and significant changes in work practices in a company that was traditionally deemed to be inflexible in the context of management and trade union relations. I commend the unions on rising to the challenge in recent years. However, there are areas of the country in which CIE is reducing services and a case could be made for private operators to tender for routes. Private operators would be more flexible in the type of transport services they could provide.

I refer to my own part of the country, which has been severely impacted by the financial troubles in CIE and Bus Éireann.

Controversy has arisen in recent weeks about the closure of bus stops along expressway routes in certain parts of the country. This has happened on the route between Ballina and Dublin and although some stops were restored on that route after lobbying, the problems on the N4 Sligo-Dublin expressway have not been resolved. Two villages along the N4, Dromod and Roosky, were bypassed in recent years. Dromod is not as badly affected as Roosky simply because it has a train station that is serviced by five trains each way between Dublin and Sligo. However, most of the people in Roosky who have used the expressway service were either pensioners or completely reliant on public transport. When Bus Éireann announced its intention to close these stops it did not refer to the fact that it was losing business. It conceded that people were using the service but it argues that it will provide greater efficiency. It appears to suggest that people in Sligo should be given priority over those in Leitrim when it claims that the service will be faster. Time measurements of the stop in Roosky indicates that little time would be saved, however. A large number of people from the area came to Dublin to lobby on this issue last week and they may have met the Minister of State.

It is important that CIE be given the borrowing rights set out in the Bill. I hope it will lead to greater stability in the company. Fianna Fáil asks the Government to develop its policy platform of an integrated network of public transport to all citizens of this State. As the Minister of State comes from a constituency that comprises a mixture of rural and urban areas, he understood perfectly what this involves. A service which he was identified as providing became controversial because certain commentators suggested it was not commercially viable but, irrespective of whether he was involved in the decision behind it, this service was essential to the continuing viability of rural Ireland.

Similar questions have been asked about the western rail corridor, which is already being attacked by Dublin economists who argue it should never have been built in light of the numbers using it. I will not name anybody. If we are to maintain regional and spatial balance, continued investment in public transport is the only way forward. The economic cycle will turn and it would be horrendous if we did not put a proper bus and rail infrastructure in place. In 1958 the Government of the day insisted that CIE had to balance its books. History is repeating itself in this regard. The result of the 1958 decision was that Todd Andrews, who was the then chairman of CIE, abolished rural Ireland literally at a stroke. He was only a tool of Government policy but he was singled out as the man who took these decisions. My town and county suffered as a result, as did every area of the country. A rail infrastructure that had been but in place from the 1840s was abolished overnight.

Several years ago a former chairman of CIE, John Lynch, outlined the sequel to this story while he was visiting my own town of Drumshanbo. In 1963, the then Government reversed the policy of making CIE pay its way because it realised that public transport is a governmental responsibility. Anybody who suggests that public transport must pay its way under all circumstances is living in cloud cuckoo land. It will never pay its way simply because it is a public service. This is why most governments in developed economies are held responsible for providing public transport services. They can, of course, exist alongside the private sector and this is why I am curious about the Minister of State's views on the future of the private sector. Are there areas in which we are slow to open routes to private competition? Bus Éireann has a monopoly on the Sligo-Dublin route, for example, which is not right given the circumstances I have outlined.

The programme for Government refers to the need to re-balance transport policy to favour public transport. Irrespective of the Minister of State's assurances, I am not convinced this commitment has been taken to heart. However, the latter part of his speech reveals the extraordinary developments that have taken place in the area of public transport over the past 15 years. I get the sense he shares my hope that, irrespective of the pressures on financial resources, the Government will continue to invest in public transport. It would be a national scandal if we repeated the mistakes of the past. In 1951, the economists of the day said the future lay in road transport and as a result the country's tramlines were abolished, only for us to bring them back 50 years later. We should not repeat the mistakes of the past. I wish the Minister of State fair wind in continuing to invest in public transport.

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