Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also want to raise the Bus Éireann strike, which continues to wreak chaos on our public transport system, causing particular difficulties for rural Ireland commuters and tourists. We are hearing stories of shops in towns getting lower footfalls and we have to remember that striking workers are not being paid and, every day that goes by, Bus Éireann is haemorrhaging more money. We need a breakthrough because there is an impasse at the moment. I have met with a number of striking Bus Éireann workers, including drivers at the Ballina depot where I am from and outside the Dáil yesterday. Some specific issues are within Government control. It is contended that the free travel scheme, whereby people have free travel passes for buses, is underfunded. For pass holders the company gets 40% less than the full fare from the Department of Social Protection but the company is required to compete with commercial service operators. There is room for work to be done on this and I know it is being looked at. I urge the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Transport to iron this out, although it will only be part of the answer to the funding shortfall. The other issue striking workers raise is the fact that, on Expressway routes, Bus Éireann buses are required to stop in specified towns and villages while their competitors, private bus operators, do not have to. The way forward is to re-evaluate these routes and assess them as PSO services and the indications are that the NTA will go down this route. They are necessary services and therefore need to be funded by the Exchequer.

These two items will not resolve the company's woes and I would like both parties to engage. There is a place for all stakeholders and there is a part for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, to play. At the very least, management has serious questions to answer, including over the fact that in the first two months of this year losses were 41% higher than last year. In addition, while workers are being asked to take a diminution in their take-home pay and their terms and conditions, there is no such proposal for management. There needs to be fairness and equity and management needs to be held to account for the way it has run the company. It has not gone to ground just in the past few weeks.