Fergus O’Dowd TD and I launched a new Fine Gael policy document on the bus market today. This plan aims to put more buses into our country to get people off their bus stops and into their place of work or home. We believe this can only be done by allowing the private sector to play a role in the bus market. This policy would put bundles of routes out to tender to both private and public bus operators.
This is not deregulation or privatisation. This is all about making sure that public and private bodies are on a level playing field. We need to remember that over €100 million per annum is made available to public bus companies. This policy would make sure that better value for money is delivered.