I move:
That Dáil Éireann condemns the exorbitant increases in CIE fares which were recently announced.
In debating this motion we wish to put on the record what we see as the reasons for the proposed fare increases which are now before the Prices Commission. The CIE deficit of approximately £32 million will not be reduced during 1977 as a result of the proposed increases. This deficit is a reflection of the mismanagement of the economy during the past four years by the Government. If the Government permit the proposed increases they will be contributing to a classic case of the chicken and the egg approach. By adopting these proposals the Government will show that they do not know which comes first, the chicken or the egg. The weakness of the economy, and the consequent increase in passenger and freight service charges, and other increasing costs, which are fuelled by the Government's policy, are the principal reasons for the mounting CIE deficit. The inability of the management to cope with these problems which are not within the control of CIE is no surprise. The breakdown of the unified approach which should be taken by those within CIE in attempting to cope with these problems is a further reason for the mounting deficit in recent years.
The recreation of confidence and dignity is required within CIE. The creation of a comprehensive system of passenger and freight transport is one of the essential elements in the economic development of any country. That is an undeniable fact. We must recognise that CIE is an essential national resource. It is as essential to the economic state of the country as water supplies, hospital facilities and so on. We should ensure that those engaged in CIE recognise its importance and its value to the country. The problems of CIE are symptomatic of Coalition economic mismanagement, and the massive deficit is the result and not the cause of current CIE problems.
Traditionally there was always a great pride associated with the people who worked on railways and buses in this country. Now that pride and confidence have diminished to such an extent that the sense of identity with this proud tradition has been destroyed. Not unexpectedly the workers react to the situation and their reactions produce more problems for CIE. CIE do not need higher fares and reductions in services. That will only result in the creation of a huge torso which will have an increasing appetite which can only be satisfied from an ever-diminishing number of limbs. If one keeps cutting branches from a tree indiscriminately, the trunk in time will wither and die. If one keeps cutting back in the cause of viability, as is now happening, and if nothing is done to appease this huge appetite, CIE will go bankrupt. The first requirement for CIE is Government action in the revitalising of our national economy. That is the long-term answer. There is a need for leadership and management now so that the pride in CIE which was there in the past can be recreated. There is a need for a change of approach so that the workers on the ground can be given the information to bring about the necessary understanding so that a wholehearted effort can be made by all for the national good. This despondency which now prevails, or appears to exist in the whole organisation should be dealt with by the Government and the Board of CIE. The breakdown of relationships causes the service to break down, resulting in a breakdown in the train and bus service.
When the annual report of CIE makes its belated appearance—it is always very much behind time—we never see any evidence of the essentials required for any transport system. These essentials are urgency, reliability and value. It is not good enough to be told that this line and that line should be closed because they are losing money or that we should have one-man buses. This will only hold the deficit at its present level providing fares and other rates are increased exorbitantly. Failure can only result from such an approach. As fewer people use the increasingly costly services of CIE there will be more closures so that there will be a reduction in the opportunities for earning revenue, higher charges will become necessary, the services will become more costly and so on in an everdiminishing circle of activity. I can see a situation where the only services operated by CIE will be between Connolly Station, Heuston Station and Pearse Station and they will be in very little use because of the extreme costs and the inability of people to meet the charges.
What is required from the Government above all is an effort to get the economy moving throughout the country. This has been needed for the last four years. Government action to alleviate the effect of the increase in operating costs over the past four years is required. We see the folly of the lack of an energy policy on the cost of the oil products used by all sections and sectors of CIE. The taxation policies of the Government, undoubtedly have added to the real cost of oil products—the increase in tax on petrol and also the levy of the tax on types of oil products that traditionally bore no tax. This has all happened in the last three years and the levy of tax on the other oil products which traditionally bore no tax started within the last 12 or 18 months. We should also remember that the consumer cost of oil or oil products in the last three years has risen from £200 million at the time of the oil crisis to over £600 million.
The effect that these cost increases had on the price index has shown in inflation in wages and salaries which in turn had to be financed by increased Government spending or increased unemployment in the private sector of the economy, which in its turn had to be financed by increased insurance and social security payments by employer and employee alike. In the case of CIE this payment alone probably totals about £10 million per annum which is a sizeable chunk of the £32 million deficit we hear about. This payment has been subsidised in the last 12 months by the taxpayer and by the House here. Now we can see why we argue that on commercial and national economic grounds there is no case at this time for increased fares or rates by CIE. The result of such a policy can only be negative. It can lead only to reduced usage and consequently to reduced services. This is a case where the patient's temperature cannot be reduced by treating the symptom— for example, the cost of £30 million in this case to sustain national loss.
The Government should be giving a lead to help reduce the cost of providing this national service by creating an atmosphere in which the economy can move out of the chronic depression in which it is and has been for the past four years. The liability of maintaining the properties and other fixed assets of CIE should be examined with a view to creating income-earning assets with these properties. The positioning of railway stations and other facilities in practically every major town in Ireland offers an opportunity for development second to none, whether developed commercially, industrially or for warehouses or other potentially beneficial use. CIE has the biggest and best potential property asset in this country at present and it should not be permitted to be a liability. All that is required is initiative and knowhow to turn such a property or such a land bank into a real income-producing asset. Everyone will realise how strategically placed are these properties in most of the provincial towns. They are generally situated in very central areas and are suitable for some form of development. I am not suggesting that these locations should be sold off but they should be comprehensively developed to maximise their benefit for CIE. This cannot be described as a unique proposal. If we consider Euston Station and Liverpool Street Station in London, to name but two, they have been developed without affecting the usefulness of British Railways. Consider also the way that many of the London underground stations in recent years have been dealt with similarly. This has taken place while they were still being used as stations. They are vastly improved and the manner in which they have been developed has brought more revenue to London Transport.
The Government can make such things happen here. In the Dublin area in particular the State must be the largest user of commercial space. It has been obliged to lease or purchase office space in different parts of the city in recent years, sometimes at very great cost. CIE were already owners of very expensive properties in this city which could have been utilised for this purpose and leased in turn by Government Departments. This would have brought badly needed revenue to CIE which would have helped to offset the increase in the amount of the subsidy they have been seeking.
There is a State or semi-State body or a local authority in all the major towns and most of the provincial towns in the country. Anyone who lives in or knows these will agree that there are more and more Government offices having to find space and accommodation in these towns. It may be the Department of Agriculture, the Land Commission or a semi-State body like the Agricultural Credit Corporation. In my town they have had to purchase in one instance from the local Convent of Mercy while at the same time a vast area of CIE property in the town was not being fully utilised as a result of the cut-back in railway services.
As we travel through rural Ireland we notice that such space is lying idle with weeds growing over it and in many cases in a derelict state. This is something that should be tackled, and of course this will require imagination and intitiative, elements which have been badly lacking to date. It is possible to do it and there is a ready market waiting in most of these areas which is under Government control, whether by State or semi-State bodies, departmental offices or local authorities. All of these we have seen expand and spread into other provincial towns. Even the local authorities have had to expand their office space and find more sites. At the same time properties owned by CIE were becoming more and more unused and tended to lie idle and in many cases derelict.
While the so-called future viability of the Dublin bus service seems to be related to whether or not one-man buses can be agreed upon with the trade unions, the increases proposed will reduce fare paying passenger numbers because it will be outside their capability to pay the increased fares in many instances, the massive increases which were announced as having gone to the Prices Commission recently. In particular, this will happen in the outer suburbs because the proposed increases will make the cost of bus travel higher than the cost would be if people were to share private cars and commute in and out to the city to work or otherwise. The tendency will be to utilise this form of transport because of the exorbitant cost of CIE fares on the buses in this city.
We say the Government must now call a halt to these proposed increases. A comprehensive energy and transport plan should be formulated and should have been formulated after the oil crisis three years ago. We need a wide-ranging examination based on national and local needs. This is vitally important and urgently needed. As we all know, circumstances have altered radically since the energy crisis in 1973 and the need for such an examination has been evident to us and to many other people. I suppose it was too much to expect that something so necessary and positive would be initiated by the Government. From their performance since the oil crisis I suppose it is quite possible that something like that will be announced any day now because of the possibility of a general election in the not too distant future.
People will know from experience that any such hurried announcement by the Government after four years in office is just another means of grabbing the headlines in an effort to woo the voters. This examination should have been carried out over the past three years. This has not happened and the people will readily appreciate that fact. For far too long the public have suffered under a policy based on tax, more tax and more tax again in order to reduce consumption. It has not reduced consumption but has caused massive inflation. This has definitely been the policy on energy and oil products.
We had the infamous 15p extra tax on petrol about two years ago which was introduced out of the blue on top of the increases imposed by the multi-national oil companies and the OPEC countries. They were bad enough and drastic enough without further introduction of massive taxation by the Government on all those products. This taxation failed to reduce consumption. I do not know whose idea or whose policy it was, or who believed that if you increased prices you would reduce consumption. Instead more and more inflation was created.
Increasing CIE fares at this time will be inflationary and, in the short term, will discourage the use of CIE services, particularly in city areas where the increases are likely to be most severe because more people in cities tend to use CIE services than in rural Ireland where they have not been as readily available. We put down this motion in an effort to highlight what it is threatened will happen. We cannot prevent it from happening but, at least, we can draw the attention of this House and the people to what was publicised in the newspapers and the type of proposals now before the Prices Commission. We see no justification for these drastic increases. We cannot discourage the Prices Commission but we can try to discourage the Government from imposing these drastic increases and having them duly granted by the Minister for Industry and Commerce. The public cannot bear any further increases. They will lead to a reduction in the use of CIE services which, in turn, will reduce CIE revenue. We do not see what this can possibly achieve for CIE.
Last week we had a debate about a railway line the Board decided to close down. If this policy is continued, we will probably be debating closures every week or every two weeks. Now is the time for a proper re-examination and assessment of the functions of a public transport system not only in rural Ireland but also in our cities.
