Bus route privatisation receives mixed reaction

The Aircoach bus company has welcomed the Government's decision to partly privatise bus services in Dublin.

The decision was announced by Transport Minister Seamus Brennan this morning and will come into effect by the end of 2004. Mr Brennan said 25% of the Dublin market will be opened up to private firms.

Aircoach chief executive John O'Sullivan said: "It's a positive signal that things are going to change in the regulation of public transport, that competition is going to be allowed and encouraged and that private-sector competitors will be given an opportunity to compete on a level playing field."

However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has criticised the privatisation and said it would jeopardise a service that has been operating successfully for years.

Spokesman Liam Berney said: "It is our belief, from our experience, that the franchising of public transport in other European cities has been an unmitigated disaster."

The Green Party, meanwhile, said the minister should be investing more in transport rather than privatising the service.

"We have no objection . . . to more competition on Dublin bus routes, but the minister's obsession with promoting private sector operators makes the Government's real failing their inability to invest in public transport," spokesman Eamon Ryan said.

Mr Ryan went on to criticise the Government's failures in the area of public transport. "All the bluster of the minister cannot hide the fact that the Luas is years late, vital improvements to the Dart have been put back to 2008, the Metro project has been cut in half and the Quality Bus Corridor scheme has ground to a halt," he said.

"This litany of delay and missed opportunities all relate to Dublin, only because the Government does not have a single plan for the improvement of public transport outside the capital. The reality will be more of the same rail closures and cutbacks proposed by CIE yesterday."