Leaders Questions: TDs debate Bus Eireann, Brexit and hospital overcrowding in the Dáil

Bus Eireann is losing €6m a year despite receiving a State subsidy of €40m, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Dáil, writes Daniel McConnell of the Irish Examiner.

During Leaders’ Questions, Taoiseach Enda Kenny came under fire from Fianna Fáil’s Transport spokesman Robert Troy who asked how did Minister Shane Ross brief the Cabinet on a report he had not seen.

Mr Troy said that it had emerged that Mr Ross had not seen a Grant Thornton report, which suggested some route closures, but yet it was claimed he briefed the Cabinet on the crisis at the bus company.

In response, Mr Kenny told Mr Troy that he was “being very hard on Mr Ross at the start of a new term” but Mr Ross had briefed Cabinet on what he had read in the media.

Mr Troy told the Dáil that he found this incredible given he had left a copy of the report in Mr Ross’ pigeon hole for him to read.

Mr Kenny said that the bus company’s subsidy last year of €40m was a significant increase on the previous year.

Also at Leaders Questions, the Dáil heard that British Prime Minister Theresa May has ignored and is ignoring the concerns of the people of Ireland, North and South, in seeking a hard Brexit.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald severely criticised the Taoiseach’s lack of a plan for Ireland in the wake of the British vote and called for Northern Ireland to be granted special status within the European Union.

Galway TDs Noel Grealish and Catherine Connolly raised issues and concerns about capacity issues in the city’s transport network and hospital.

Ms Connolly demanded firm actions from the Taoiseach to address what she called the chronic overcrowding at Galway Hospital.

She said the lack of investment was a result of an ideology which says “private is good and public is bad”.

She called for the building of a new hospital to deal with the needs of almost a million people which the hospital is required to treat.

Mr Kenny said a lot is being done and dismissed her call for a new hospital as a “blithe” suggestion.

Mr Grealish bemoaned the congestion on the city’s roads which he said is choking job creation and called for a major investment in new roads.

Meanwhile, TDs in the border counties last night voiced their “deep concern” at Mrs May's decision to pursue a hard Brexit involving withdrawal from the customs union, which they could be devastating to jobs.

Former minister and Louth TD Fergus O’Dowd said he was “very worried” for the future of the region as exiting the customs union effectively establishes a new economic trading border on the island of Ireland.

“This is very significant for cross border trade and I am very worried as to what will happen. This is hugely damaging and this is bad for Ireland and bad for the UK. We are now facing into some very difficult choices,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“We should have a one island economy but this profound decision means we have new economic partition here, which could not have come at a worse time, given the instability in the North,” he added.