Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also raise the issue of Bus Éireann and call for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to come to the House, although I suspect it will not help us. I was on the picket line yesterday with workers in Limerick. I welcome that there has been support from all sides of the House on the issue. I also welcome Senator Kieran O'Donnell's comments to the degree that he recognises there are issues of Government policy regarding how the company is structured.

I will cite two issues. The PSO was drastically cut back between 2009 and 2015. It is not sufficient to support the public services that are needed at the moment. There is a €17 million deficit on the reimbursement for the free-travel scheme. The last time I raised this in the Chamber, the Leader said the company was losing €50,000 a day. That is because it is not being funded properly. The point is that it is not possible to solve an industrial relations issues when key issues of Government policy are underpinning the problem.

I say this with respect, Fine Gael has the power to fix this. It is that party that is in Government and it is being supported by Fianna Fáil. The workers are out on strike because the Government, for all Fine Gael Members' kind words, is not taking action to deal with it.