Sir, - Nine months after the publication of Mary O'Rourke's policy document "A New Institutional and Regulatory Framework for Public Transport", we still have no clarity or certainty about the privatisation plans for the CIE family. Children may have been conceived and born while their transport worker parents were kept in the dark about their futures and their livelihoods.
We accept that the Minister's confused position on privatisation may derive in part from the need to keep the PDs quiet, but it is immoral to play with people's lives for political expediency.
The UK model of privatisation which she appears so keen to copy has been a total failure - on buses, trains and water. It is crazy not to learn from these failures.
Much of the problem is due to arrogance. Why has the transport forum in CIE been relegated to a talking-shop? Why has the Minister not begun a debate in Dail Eireann about the future of transport policy in city and country? Is the focus of the Government's interest more on selling off the CIE property portfolio? The golden circle must be licking their lips in anticipation. Meanwhile, the workers of CIE are asked to live with complete uncertainty about their jobs. It's not on.
How can Mrs O'Rourke expect people to deal seriously with her when she refuses to reveal the game plan to them on:
asset stripping;
franchising;
conditions of employment;
privatisation;
letters of comfort;
public subvention of the transport system.
It is high time the Minister came clean on her plans and more than time that she consulted with the public and the CIE employees. She could show good faith by a moratorium on creeping privatisation pending consultation. We all want to make the public transport system work. We all want to see a quality bus and train service with quality jobs for its employees. There is still time to garner the good will to achieve this. Mrs O'Rourke, please don't throw away the opportunity. Yours, etc.,
John White, (Bus Driver), Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.