Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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574. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to allay the fears of the employees of Bus Éireann on the potential privatisation of the company; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3972/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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​There are no plans to privatise Bus Éireann. 2015 was another welcome year of passenger growth across the public transport system and preliminary figures indicate that Bus Éireann provided just over 30 million passenger journeys in the year across its range of Exchequer subvented Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes.  Of course challenges continue to exist, particularly in the commercial Expressway market, and the company is seeking to address those challenges through revenue growth strategies and also continued saving and cost control measures.​ My Department continues to liaise with Bus Éireann and the other companies within the CIÉ Group as they seek to address their financial and operating challenges.

I know the Deputy will welcome the fact that in last autumn's budget I secured an increase in the level of Exchequer PSO funds for the first time in a number of years and this year €236.6m has been made available to the National Transport Authority to secure PSO routes across both bus and rail services.