Land sale pushes CIÉ into black

THE profits on the sale of land in Dublin helped push CIÉ into the black last year.

The company’s annual report said it made a profit of €20 million compared to a loss of €4m in 2003. However, the profit figure includes the annual grant from the Government, which totalled €267 million across the group last year. Without the subvention, CIÉ would make massive losses.

Group turnover for the year increased from €661.9m to €683.5m.

Chairman John Lynch said it had made progress in 2004 and that its customers were getting value for money. He added: “the CIÉ group of companies continues to give good value for money when benchmarked against our European partners. Bus Átha Cliath and Bus Éireann are in the top quartile in terms of performance and Iarnród Éireann’s fares are amongst the lowest in Europe.”

A spokesman for the company said that the number of passengers across its rail and bus network were up year-on-year despite the closure of half of the Dublin DART service at weekends.

Turnover at Irish Rail rose from €213m to €218m and the division reported a surplus of €2.4m when the State grant is included in the figures. Excluding the subvention losses on the rail network were reduced to €238m from €301m. The number of journeys increased by €1.1m to €37.3m.

“This result is all the more striking considering that half the DART service was shut down for most of the weekends during the year as part of the necessary DART upgrade,” said Dr Lynch.

Bus Éireann recorded a €4.2m rise in its surplus for the year to €5.7m. The company said this was the result of adding new routes and more frequent departures. Revenues were ahead by almost €8m at €226.5m.

Dublin Bus saw a fall in its annual surplus from €7.3m to €2m on revenue up by €5m to €177m. The company said traffic gridlock was costing Dublin Bus some €60m a year.

The company’s other activities also reported an improvement last year. Its Commuter Advertising Network made a profit of €5.9m, up €100,000, while turnover at CIÉ Tours International rose 14% to €55m. Its property rental business yielded income of €13.6m

The CIÉ annual report also reveals that nearly 200 people left the company during the year, costing nearly €20m in redundancy payments.

The employee pension fund deficit rocketed from 191m to 287m. Mr Lynch said the company made dramatic improvements in safety following the tragic Wellington Quay bus crash in Dublin which claimed five lives and injured many more.

Accidents in Dublin were reduced by 12% year-on-year after driver were sent on an advanced motoring course and there was a 22% drop on Bus Éireann accidents.

“The two bus companies had expected that the emphasis on defensive driving would lead to an annual 5% reduction in passenger accidents, but it is now clear that this approach to driving can lead to much more significant road safety results,” added Dr Lynch.