Ní féidir dearmad a dhéanamh ar na mílte a íocann cáin ioncaim is ar uile, mar tugann an Rialtas os cionn £100 milliún do CIE gach bliain, ionnas go mbeidh an bord in ann seirbhísí a tharraingíonn deontais a choimeád ar siúl.
De ghnáth bíonn suim mhór ag Teachtaí Dála i gnóathaí CIE mar tá sé soiléir dúinn go bhfuil tábhacht faoi leith ag baint leis an gcóras taistil náisiúnta. Tá ceisteanna tábhachtacha le plé ins an mBille atá os ár gcómhair maidir le airleacain don bhord ón Aire Airgeadais, cumhachtaí an bhoird chun airgead a fháil ar iasacht, rathaíocht Stáit do iasachtaí CIE, díol talaimh i gcás ordú tréigin a bheith déanta maidir le líne iarnróid agus pionósanna i gcásanna áirithe, mar shampla, duine a bhriseann fodhlíthe an bhoird, foghla ar an iarnróid, geataí a fhagáil gan dúnadh ag crosairí comhréidh áirithe agus duine nach n-íocann táillí taistil. Tá daoine mar sin ann fresin, mar is eol don Teach. Beidh mé ag éisteacht le gach rud a bheas le rá anseo i dtaobh an Bhille agus táim cinnte go mbainfidh CIE agus mé féin leas as i bhfábhar seirbhísí taistil in Éirinn.
This Bill gives the House the opportunity to focus on some of the affairs of CIE. The organisation is important for many reasons. Its extensive transport network by rail and road makes it the backbone of the country's inland transport system. Very many are dependent on the services of Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnrod Éireann for their personal transport needs. Industry and commerce use the freight services extensively. In summary, CIE services make a substantial input to the social and economic life of the community. As taxpayers and legislators, we are interested in CIE because the Exchequer subvention to CIE, now well in excess of £100 million per annum, has to be met from the State's resources.
The economy is passing through a difficult phase and this increases the emphasis on value for money, cost effectiveness and efficiency. This is highlighted for the CIE organisation in the challenging targets which have been set for it by Government for the period 1985-89. Iarnród Éireann are striving to achieve the railway target of reducing costs by close to 20 per cent over the five years. Bus Átha Cliath are seeking to have their 1984 deficit in real terms and Bus Éireann's aim is to make provincial buses profitable. The achievement of these targets has not been made easy for CIE by the State's inability over recent years to meet in full its financial commitment to the board. This, in part, has generated the need for the Bill now before the House.
The purposes of the Bill are to discharge the obligation on CIE to repay to the Exchequer capital advances of £44,458,691; enable the board to borrow up to £45 million on a long term basis for meeting their obligations and carrying out their duties; allow the board the option of selling by tender property linked to abandoned railway lines, and increase the levels of penalties for various offences in relation to the railways. Although I circulated an Explanatory Memorandum with the Bill, I wish to explain the background and other relevant particulars to the House.
The particular arrangements which eventually led to the proposed change to the State advances date back to late 1985. At that time, the then Ministers for Communications and Finance settled, for 1986 and subsequent years, the timing of payment of the normal Exchequer subvention and interest charges on the capital cost of DART to CIE. This involved the deferral to 1987 of some payments due in 1986, the deferral to 1988 of substantial arrears due to be paid in 1987, and the payment in permanent arrears of some moneys due in 1988 and subsequent years.
Pending receipt of the arrears, CIE had to have recourse to temporary borrowings in order to meet their liabilities from 1985 onwards. The accumulated effect of the shortfalls in subvention and DART interest is that the Exchequer would need to provide an additional £45 million in 1988 in order to discharge the arrears. Added to the subvention of £113.6 million which has been allocated to CIE for 1988, this would have brought the total Exchequer requirement for CIE next year to close to £160 million. The allocation of £113.6 million includes £14 million to cover the total expected interest payment on DART in 1988. The total allocation for 1987 is £107.4 million.
When the Government came to dealing with the Estimates for 1988 it was obvious that there was no prospect in current economic circumstances of meeting CIE's needs in full. At the same time, we recognised that, if the issue were not tackled, the Exchequer's indebtedness to CIE would continue to grow, with adverse consequences for the Exchequer and the CIE financial position. Having examined the limited options available, the Government decided to write off against the shortfalls in subvention the £44,458,691 which had been provided for CIE between 1965 and 1982 in repayable advances. The writeoff of the advances is provided for in section 2 (1) of the Bill.
As CIE are required to pay interest on the repayable advances, section 2 (2) of the Bill discharges CIE from liability. The interest currently amounts to about £4.4 million per annum. This saving to CIE will serve as an offset against interest payable by the board on the borrowings generated by the deferral of the subvention moneys. The board will, however, be required to finance the repayment of the borrowings from their own resources. The net effect of this arrangement for CIE is that the additional costs for the board will be confined to the repayment of the sums borrowed to finance arrears of subvention instead of providing at some date in the future for the repayment of State advances.
I should like to have met the Exchequer liability in full, but this was not possible in current circumstances. The solution, while not perfect, is nevertheless better than any likely to emerge as a result of pushing the problem aside for another day. It brings to an end the payment of subvention in arrears and makes CIE's position clear so that they can plan their finances for the future.
To help CIE meet the additional burden, section 3 has been included to enable the board to borrow on a long term basis for the purpose of financing the arrears of subvention. This will involve the conversion to term loans of temporary borrowings already incurred in relation to the arrears. In that way, the repayments of principal can be spread over a longer period. Section 4 of the Bill provides for the guaranteeing in the normal way of those borrowings by the Minister for Finance.
Section 3 of the Bill supplements the board's existing borrowing powers, under which CIE are authorised to borrow for capital purposes on a long term basis and to borrow temporarily for general operational purposes. The statutory limit on borrowings for capital purposes is £250 million and that for temporary borrowing is £40 million. At the end of 1986 the board's borrowings for capital purposes amounted to £157 million and the temporary borrowings stood at £30.7 million. The board's temporary borrowings are now close to the £40 million limit.
Sub-section 7 of section 21 of the Transport Act, 1950, empowers the board of CIE to sell land under and adjoining an abandoned railway line, either by private treaty to the owner of the land on both sides of such line, or by public auction to any person, including such owner. CIE have requested that the additional option of sale by tender be provided for, because experience has shown that parts of abandoned railway lines which are not of interest to adjoining landowners are sometimes not sufficiently valuable to justify the costs of sale by auction. Section 5 of the Bill provides for sale by tender and CIE plan to use the tendering process, where it would be to the board's advantage to dispose of property in that way. These tenders would be invited by public advertisement.
Members of the House have been concerned with reports of offences and vandalism committed on or in relation to the railway. The offences cover a wide range of problems such as wilful destruction of property, stone throwing at trains, placing obstacles in the path of trains, refusing to close gates at certain level crossings, trespass on the railway and improper use of the communication cord on trains. All these involve dangerous practices and can lead to loss of life or limb and damage to property. What starts out as a "lark" can cause irremedial loss and damage.
Unfortunately the frequency and scope of many of these types of incidents have grown in recent years. We are now long past the stage where they can be treated as outbreaks of high spirits. Many of them are obviously undertaken with malicious damage in mind. At considerable cost, the board have been taking special measures to try to curb these objectionable and anti-social activities. Some success has been achieved but it is clear that further measures are needed to impress on those concerned that their misbehaviour is unacceptable. CIE have also to deal with people who refuse to pay or try to avoid paying fares.
While the existing legislation provides for prosecutions and penalties, the courts are handicapped in applying penalties which match the gravity of the offences. This is because the impact of maximum permissible penalties has been eroded over time. For example, it would pay a person to avoid paying his or her fare in the knowledge that the maximum fine on conviction is £2. The penalties for some of the offences dealt with in the Bill were set as long ago as 1868. Some of the penalties were revised between that time and 1971, but even they no longer match the potential greviousness of offences. Penalties have to be imposed which will convince offenders of the likely serious adverse personal consequences of their acts.
Existing maximum penalties range from £2 to £25. For the types of offences which are covered by sections 6 to 10 of the Bill, it is proposed to increase the maximum penalties to £300 and/or a maximum of three months imprisonment. This gives a clear message to would-be offenders that their behaviour is unacceptable and will fall to be punished in a very substantial way. Interference with railway property and the proper operation of rail services cannot be tolerated.
Section 22 of the Railways Act, 1868, provides for penalties in relation to the provision of communication cords as well as penalties for misuse. At present such cords are required to be fitted in passenger trains which travel more than 20 miles without stopping. The potential penalty for not having a communication cord is £10 and section 9 of the Bill provides for increasing the maximum penalty which may be imposed on a railway company to £300. The section also extends the application of the section to all passenger trains so as to bring the legislation into line with existing CIE practice.
The penalty provisions in the Bill are necessary in the interest of facilitating Iarnród Éireann to carry out their responsibilities of safe and efficient transport in an effective manner. I now wish to address myself to a point which was at the root of the question asked by Deputy McCartan on the Order of Business. Deputies in the Dublin North East constituency have been concerned about the problems of trespass and vandalism on the railways in their area. I am grateful to the Minister for Social Welfare, Dr. Woods, and to Deputy McCartan for drawing my attention to a related enforcement problem. It appears that the absence of specific powers of arrest without warrant for the Garda Síochána in cases of trespass, vandalism and so on on the railway restrict, in certain respects, the freedom of the Garda to intervene where a member of the force suspects the committing of an offence. I have examined this and related matters and have come to the conclusion that there is a need to include a provision in the Bill to extend such powers to the Garda Síochána. I envisage such a provision being extended to other matters as well as trespass. My examination of the matter is not, however, quite complete but I expect to be in a position to introduce an appropriate amendment to the Bill when it is being discussed by Seanad Éireann. Of course, when such an amendment has been passed, it will automatically be referred back to this House for consideration and debate.
No discussion of legislative measures in relation to CIE would be complete without some account of the general state of affairs of the board and their subsidiaries. The most recent comprehensive report on the affairs of CIE is the board's annual report and accounts for 1986 which were presented to the Houses of the Oireachtas on 8 October 1987. The result for 1986 was a net profit of £3.648 million before exceptional items. This took account of Exchequer subvention payments totalling almost £117 million. The railway subvention at £93.326 million continues to represent a huge cost to the Exchequer although it recorded a profit of £2.925 million during the year. Other figures of note for 1986 were that total railway passenger journeys increased by 8 per cent to a record 21.7 million, with DART accounting for just over 13 million; passenger journeys on provincial bus services increased by 3.8 per cent and the Dublin City Services passenger journeys increased 2 per cent to 165 million. Despite CIE's best efforts rail freight tonnage dropped by 7.5 per cent to 3.126 million tonnes over the 1985 figure. The road freight results showed a profit of £324,000, compared with a profit of £195,000 in 1985.
Overall the board had a good year in 1986 and this represented a continuation of the progress of recent years. I wish to take this opportunity to express in this House my appreciation to the chairman of CIE, the board, the management and the whole CIE workforce for this performance. It demonstrates continuing efforts in the board's various sectors for increasing revenue, and providing cost effective and efficient transport responding to passengers' needs. The level of Exchequer support required for CIE is still very high and there is a need to reduce it further.
In February 1987 the three new CIE subsidiaries, Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, commenced operations. The smoothness of the changeover to the new structures has been remarkable. The board's report for 1987 will present, for the first time, the results under the new structures.
The board's activities got off to a good start at the beginning of the year by achieving their budgetary objectives. More recently, however, there have been downward trends in the operating results against budget. This is a cause for concern. CIE is making every effort to correct that situation and I hope that its efforts will be rewarded. I believe that CIE has the potential to continue to improve its overall financial position but it will not do so without hard work and responsible attitudes throughout the organisation.
An item which seems to have a recurring adverse effect on CIE is the localised labour disputes of doubtful merit which arise from time to time. These interruptions to services are usually limited in scope but they are sources of major annoyance and inconvenience to the CIE customers who are affected. They tend to draw public odium on the whole of CIE and they lose money. That is very unfair to the vast majority of CIE employees. It is a great pity that in these situations the minority becomes newsworthy, while those in CIE who continue to serve the public remain unsung.
The Government are tackling the serious difficulties confronting the economy. At a time when the general economy is going through a period of difficulty, the transport sector is as vulnerable as any other, and the CIE organisation has to face up to the challenges confronting it. Success cannot be achieved without the active support of all CIE employees giving of their best. The employees' own futures cannot be divorced from that of the organisation.
Over recent years the CIE rail carriage fleet and bus fleets have been upgraded and CIE customers have experienced the value of these developments. Most of the mainline rail routes have now modern carriages, very recent additions being those introduced on the Dublin-Westport and Dublin-Rosslare routes. Iarnród Éireann are modifying their carriage building programme in order to improve the quality of services on radial and outer suburban routes. The first of these carriages will be available next year. The renewal of the provincial bus fleet was completed in 1986 and 50 new luxury coaches for use on the Supabus and Expressway routes and by the tours division were acquired. The Dublin bus fleet has also been improved over recent years.
From media coverage it is quite clear that the general image of CIE as a commercial organisation has also been changing. The improved profile which the CIE group has achieved through better marketing of its services and better use of resources is very evident. We have the special DART events, including the cultural links with the theatre and poetry, the special Killarney week-end packages for visitors travelling from Dublin by rail and the many other rail and bus special offers. This is evidence of a new dynamism in CIE. It is improving the product and making strenuous efforts to attract more customers and so improve the utilisation of the rail and road fleets with obvious consequences for the organisation's revenues. These efforts and innovations in CIE reflect a customer orientated approach which deserves to succeed and will do so.
CIE's role in the tourist industry is a major one. Not only is it engaged in selling abroad Irish holidays and in providing transport services and tours for holidaymakers in Ireland, but it is also responsible for Rosslare Harbour, one of our international gateways and the major sea access point from Continental Europe. First class access transport and facilities for visitors at the points of entry are essential for the further growth in the number of visitors coming to spend their holidays among us.
CIE has been working for a number of years on upgrading the facilities at the harbour. A major part of the development plan for the harbour is finished and next year, when the new passenger terminal is completed, we will have at Rosslare a product of the highest international standards with quality visitor services. These are so necessary to remove for our visitors some of the frustrations, which cannot but damage our image as a friendly and concerned people, and to create the most favourable impression possible on our visitors as they arrive.
In summary, I have explained the background to the Bill and its provisions. I have outlined for the House the progress which CIE has made in recent years and touched on some of the problems facing the organisation. I am heartened by what has been achieved but recognise that there are still many challenges facing the board and its subsidiaries. If Deputies have questions arising from the issues raised in the Bill, I will endeavour to answer them.
The financial performance of CIE over the past three years inspires confidence and I know that under the leadership of the chairman and board of CIE every effort will be made to achieve the targets set by Government.
Mar fhocail scoir, molaim an Bille don Teach.