SIPTU representatives have condemned the proposal by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to offer 10% of Bus Eireann services to private operators from 2021. SIPTU Organiser, John Murphy, said the decision was ideologically driven and would result in further privatisation of public bus services. He said: “We are totally opposed to the proposals to remove 10% of the Bus Eireann services from the state operator in 2021 with the intention to openly tender such services at that point. This is a flawed ideologically driven agenda which will result in the further privatisation of our public bus services.” He said that union members supported the decision to award public service contracts to Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann from next year but did not agree with the arguments put forward the tendering of Dublin commuter routes in 2021. “Public transport services should not be privatised on the basis of spurious competitiveness arguments. Bus users are entitled to decent, reliable services not those provided as part of a race to the bottom in standards and in conditions of work,” John Murphy said. “We have all seen the problems associated with the open tendering of waste collection services across the State and the chaos they have created.” The NTA has accepted that some of the routes which it intends to put out for private tender enjoy the highest rates of customer satisfaction which raises further and serious questions about the motivation for this exercise in privatisation.
SIPTU condemns NTA proposal to privatise a further 10% of Bus Eireann routes
