Transport infrastructure requires an investment of £2 billion over the next 15 years to ensure its long-term viability, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, told the National and Bus Rail Union conference in Ballina last night. She said that co-operation by Government, CIE and the trade unions was essential if the State was to overcome the growing problems of transport gridlock.
About £600 million will be needed too improve the railway network and another £400 million for Luas, Ms O'Rourke said. She was already seeking funding for the railways from the Cabinet and was asking CIE to contribute significantly through the disposal of property "surplus to public transport requirements".
"I am looking forward to receiving a report, a property audit, from the board of CIE by the end of November," she told delegates. "Important decisions will then have to be made, and I intend to invite the unions for talks on how best we can realise that asset value, bearing in mind the urgent need for funding for public transport."
The Minister called on the union, which represents the majority of bus and rail drivers in all three CIE subsidiaries, to co-operate with her and the company in achieving these objectives.
However, the general secretary of the NBRU, Mr Peter Bunting, warned that it was opposed to a "quick buck" sale of assets. "Does haste to dispose of our national assets signal another agenda?" he asked.
"Does such a policy indicate a revoking of promises and commitments given to this trade union by Mr Bertie Ahern just days before the last general election?
"We should resist any attempt other than through joint ventures as a means of realising finance. That resistance should take whatever form necessary, national protests, local protests by all our members, to highlight what can only be described as asset stripping."
Ms O'Rourke has enjoyed a good working relationship with the CIE unions, but this could be jeopardised by the row over the disposal of company property.
Two SIPTU worker directors, Mr Bill McCamley and Mr Paul Cullen, have threatened to resign from the CIE board because of the Minister's "intention to instruct the board of CIE to dispose of any company property not presently being used in connection with actual transport".