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 8 o’clock
(Speaker Continuing)
[Deputy James Lawless:   ] We are well aware of six planned service interruptions - six planned strike days - coming up over the next six weeks, many of which are at very critical times. Not only are these service interruptions becoming the norm, planned improvements that had been long sought and campaigned for and that were finally being arranged, such as the ten-minute DART, which, believe it or not, improves the Kildare timetable, and additional services through the Phoenix Park tunnel into the city centre are being affected. The Phoenix Park tunnel is a wonderful initiative but its popularity greatly exceeds the supply. It had been agreed with Irish Rail and the National Transport Authority, NTA, that extra services would be put on that route. People are struggling to fit into the carriages or to board in the morning. Extra services, carriages, rolling stock and times were to be added to that route. All of this is on hold with no end date because of what I understand to be industrial unrest across the unions. I am not sure if it is official. It may be in the case of Irish Rail but it may not be so with Dublin Bus, but things like timetable disruptions are not part of any official dispute as far as I am aware, yet management seems unable to roll out these improvements while these issues persist.
I have been asking this question for some time in the House, including yesterday on the Order of Business, so I wonder whether the Minister has gone out on strike himself in solidarity with the unions because I have not seen him being active about it. I imagine he will tell me that he is not going to get involved, so maybe that is a gesture of solidarity with the unions. Maybe the Minister is going on a go-slow himself. Will he clarify that for us?
Deputy Thomas P. Broughan: It is astonishing that we again face a national transport strike during the Minister's tenure. We went through this previously with Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. Eventually, a settlement was reached. The very hard-working staff with their five trade unions - Unite, SIPTU, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, TEEU, and the National Bus and Rail Union, NBRU, took a very mature and responsible line at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. They seemed to be inching towards a settlement of around 2.5%, which is a little bit over the general public service rise which has already been agreed. Suddenly, there was a debacle and it was stopped. Many people think this was stopped on the Minister's orders because he was not prepared to give the normal pay rise in the public sector to workers in this area.
During the years of the two austerity Governments before this Government, public service obligation, PSO, funding was slashed. Back in 2007, the company received a PSO of almost €190 million down through 2008 when it received €181 million, 2009 when it received €170 million, 2010 when it received €155 million, 2011 when it received €148 million, 2012 when it received €166 million, 2013 when it received €127 million, 2014 when it received €117 million and 2015 when it received €117 million. PSO funding has been slashed while at the same time successful rail companies across Europe, like Deutsche Bahn, receive very significant subsidies from their governments that very often are up to two thirds of their turnover. We need a good public transport system.
One of the worst features of this is that the document that Iarnród Éireann apparently presented at the Labour Court set out that four important lines, namely, Limerick to Ballybrophy, Limerick Junction to Waterford, Ennis to Athenry and Gorey to Rosslare, would be closed. What on earth could be the logic or rationale for this given that we only funded the Ennis to Athenry line in recent times and the Gorey to Rosslare line is vital in the context of Brexit? The Minister needs to sort this out.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (Deputy Shane Ross): I thank the Deputies for raising this question which is, obviously, important to the travelling public in the coming weeks, whatever the outcome. I wish to comment on what Deputy Broughan said. The idea that I somehow intervened in any industrial discussions in any form recently is completely untrue. I want to put that on the record. For Deputy Broughan to say that I somehow stopped it, which is what he said, is absolute nonsense. I had no involvement whatsoever in those talks. I would like to make that absolutely clear. When the Deputy says those things, I am sure they are said with good intent and no doubt he has heard them from people who may well have been involved in some way or interested in those talks, but I can tell the Deputy categorically that this was not the case.
I share both Deputies' disappointment that the WRC-led discussions between unions and larnród Éireann ended without agreement. I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. I am not, however, involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. Industrial relations and pay are a matter for the company and its employees, not for me. Pay disputes must be solved by engagement between an employer and its staff. The State can assist through the normal industrial relations machinery available in these circumstances, and the Labour Court and WRC are the appropriate fora for these discussions. That is where a resolution was achieved in the disputes we already witnessed in the past year. I have made it clear time and again, and I will repeat it to make it absolutely clear, that I will not intervene in areas where it is not appropriate for a Minister to intervene. I will not dictate to management and unions an agreement that only they can craft because it relates to issues that only they have an insight into. The WRC and the Labour Court are ready and able to assist both parties in coming to that agreement. I am disappointed that despite the intensive efforts by the parties facilitated by the WRC and previously the Labour Court, it looks like Irish Rail commuters will face disruption in the coming weeks.
Regarding funding of our public transport services, I recognise that subvention levels were reduced during the recession. Most areas of public expenditure were. However, the PSO subvention increased last year and again this year and will increase yet further next year. Over the three years, the PSO subvention will have increased by 35% in total. In 2018, €285 million of Exchequer, or taxpayer, funds will be allocated to support the delivery of these socially necessary but financially unviable services throughout the country. As is normal, the precise allocations to the individual transport companies will be decided by the NTA in exercise of its statutory mandate and in accordance with the various contract arrangements it has in place with PSO service providers.
I will address the issues raised by Deputy Lawless. The Deputy is quite right that a number of services were impacted during the early stages of the changes to rosters. Bus Éireann has advised that it is continuing to implement measures to improve service levels further and that recently there have only been a very small number of cancellations. So far this week, the company has confirmed that there have been no cancellations due to driver unavailability. Regular updates were issued by the company with regard to delays and cancellations, and additional measures were introduced by the company to regularise operations and minimise impacts. It is understood that agreement was reached at the WRC on Tuesday last, 24 October 2017, to ensure all aspects of the Labour Court recommendation, including new rosters, will be rolled out by 12 November.
Deputy James Lawless: Unfortunately, the fact that the Minister cannot or will not get involved is cold comfort to the commuters literally left waiting in the rain at the side of the road. In respect of the figures the Minister mentioned relating to Bus Éireann, I met its chief executive this week and also discussed this with him. He was available to have the conversation, for which I credit him. Out of some 300-odd services, only seven were affected. Unfortunately, those seven services involved the same bus every day for a week, so the people who were trying to get to work at 7 a.m. and who were at the side of the road in Kilcock, Clane or Prosperous had the same experience every day. |
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