End confusion on bus plans, FG tells Brennan

FINE GAEL called on Transport Minister Seamus Brennan yesterday to end the confusion and publish all his proposals for bringing competition into the Dublin bus market.

Bus and rail unions abandoned plans for six days of strikes after they secured what they claimed was a climbdown from Mr Brennan on his bid to privatise a quarter of Dublin Bus.

National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) leader Liam Tobin said: “Any plans for downsizing Dublin Bus are now gone and there will be no downsizing of Dublin Bus, which will be allowed expand with the growing transport market.”

But Mr Brennan rejected this claim on RTÉ yesterday morning and denied he had done a U-turn on the partial privatisation of Dublin Bus to avert a strike.

Mr Brennan insisted the report which claimed he had done a U-turn on his plans to privatise part of Dublin bus was not accurate.

“I’m not sure it captured what he (Liam Tobin) meant - there has been no change in Government policy which continues to be that bus markets should be opened up to new companies,” Mr Brennan said. “What has happened is that both sides have stepped back from the brink of what would have been six days of national bus strikes,” he added.

Mr Brennan said both sides had held their positions - his of genuine market-opening and the unions of protecting the existing players in the market.

The Independent Labour Relations Commission (LRC) chairman Kevin Foley has said there was something to talk about and feels there is some scope for compromise between now and early December to bridge the gap, Mr Brennan said.

But Fine Gael’s Transport spokesman Denis Naughten said that no one was any wiser about Mr Brennan’s plans to introduce competition into the Dublin bus market after his performance on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland programme.

“The Minister has not explained why the unions are under the impression that he has performed a U-turn. Either the unions have been duped by the Minister or he is not telling the whole truth,” Mr Naughten said.

Mr Brennan previously said that 25% of routes will be offered to the private sector as franchises, but he did not mention yesterday what proportion will be offered, Mr Naughten said.

“The Minister won’t even state whether these will be new or existing routes,” the Fine Gael transport spokesman said.

Mr Brennan’s spokesman could not be reached to respond to the Fine Gael queries. But Mr Brennan said earlier yesterday that the “devil was in the detail” of trying to square the circle of opening up the market to competition and protecting the interests of Dublin Bus workers.

And he warned that EU competition law will shortly make it illegal to have monopolies on any bus routes. “If we don't negotiate between us on this, then the EU is coming down the tracks on this one and if they are not then the courts are coming down the tracks,” Mr Brennan said.