I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 41, 47 and 62 together.
The response to any widescale disruption of public transport services due to strike action will be based on the optimisation of other travel modes such as cars, private bus services, taxi and hackney services, walking and cycling. It is premature to speculate on contingency plans when talks are continuing between the parties involved on the matter. Regarding CIÉ's finances, the company has projected an operating deficit of up to €100 million in 2009 in the absence of corrective action. The CIÉ companies have prepared cost recovery plans, which, together with Exchequer subvention of €313 million and an average fares increase of 10% for 2010, are designed to eliminate this deficit over the period 2009 and 2010. It is imperative that CIE achieves the measures necessary to restore its financial situation as it is not open to the State, under EU rules, to allocate funds to compensate for losses of the kind now being incurred.
The position in relation to Dublin Bus services is that the company is currently seeking, with the assistance of the Labour Court, to secure agreement on a cost recovery plan involving, inter alia, a pay pause, some redundancies, revised work practices, and the withdrawal of some buses. Decisions in relation to the deployment and withdrawal of buses are a matter for Dublin Bus. I understand, however, that the withdrawal of 120 buses by Dublin Bus is driven by an increase in costs and falling passenger numbers and will be implemented so as to minimise the overall effect on customers and quality of service. Furthermore, I understand that the company wishes to implement their cost recovery plan with least impact on staff numbers.
It is opportune also that the Deloitte report on the cost and efficiency of bus services, which Dublin Bus will be implementing, provides a framework for the development of a more efficient and effective bus service in Dublin carrying more passengers at a lower cost. The Review concluded that timetables are not sufficiently coordinated in areas served by multiple routes and that bunching is a significant problem due not only to congestion but also to a lack of even headways between buses. The Review also recommended addressing pinch points along corridors to ease congestion. I am certain that these recommendations when implemented will attract more people to become public transport users and ultimately protect the environment.
I have been briefed by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann on their declining financial position, the cost recovery plans proposed to deal with this, and on the efforts being made to reach agreement with unions on the early implementation of these plans. In the context of meetings relating to the bus cost and efficiency review, the unions briefed me on their position in relation to the proposed cost recovery plans. As I indicated to the union representatives at those meetings, the reconciliation of industrial relations issues in CIÉ and its subsidiary companies is a matter for the companies and the unions and, if necessary, the industrial relations machinery of the State. Both Dublin Bus and its unions are participating in Labour Court hearings relating to Dublin Bus' cost recovery and effectiveness plan.