The provision of bus services and the routes they take are operational matters for the company in conjunction with the National Transport Authority. Bus Éireann operate a mix of services. Some of these services are commercial services (Expressway) in which they compete on the open market with private operators but do not receive a subsidy either directly or indirectly, while they also operate Public Service Obligation (PSO) services. A PSO payment is made for the company to carry out necessary bus services which would otherwise not be viable. Bus Éireann’s services were not as direct as their competion (be that other bus companies, the railways or travelling by car) and due to that, and the recession, they have lost passengers and revenue. In order to gain competitiveness they have, therefore, had to re-design their Expressway services.
I appreciate that changes to the bus services have inconvenienced some passengers. However, given the financial position that Bus Éireann and the CIÉ companies find themselves in, there is no alternative for the companies but to ensure that commercial operations operate on a commercial footing and that, unfortunately, limits their scope for changing the services. I have no plans to privatise Bus Éireann.