A GROUP of private bus companies has asked the Dáil Public Accounts Committee to examine whether Bus Éireann and the State are misusing school transport funds.
The Coach Tourism and Transport Council said the failure of the State to put the school transport contract out to tender breaches State and EU rules. It also claimed Bus Éireann was using school transport funds to subsidise other services. The Department of Education and Bus Éireann deny the allegations.
The group claimed the school bus contract, which is awarded to Bus Éireann, was worth €180 million and EU directives stipulated any State contract over €4.8 million should be put out to tender.
It said Department of Finance guidelines also stated that competitive tendering should be used in the awarding of State contracts.
Bus Éireann, it added, makes an €18 million profit, which “appears to be used to subsidise Expressway, which is a commercial operation”.
Bus Éireann said the allegations were without foundation and separate accounts were kept for the school scheme, which were subject to annual external audit. It said the group had produced no evidence to support its claims. “If the CTTC cannot support this claim with evidence, then they should withdraw it,” a spokesman said.
Bus Éireann did not make a profit of €18 million in 2010, the spokesman added, but received €18.2 million to cover the costs of running the service. The school transport accounts from 2000- 2010 were available on the Department of Education website.
A department spokeswoman said it complied with EU directives.
“This year a new competitive procurement process, in compliance with EU procurement directives, was introduced by Bus Éireann with the retendering of 20 per cent of routes,” she said. “The remainder will be retendered over the next four years.”
