CIÉ is the target in the latest reform plan put forward by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan. After taking aim at the airports monopoly, Aer Rianta, the Government now wants to change the bus and rail systems. A central objective is to reduce the State's €233 million subvention to the CIÉ companies, but the project's success will be measured on its delivery of a better service to passengers.
Mr Brennan wants to abolish CIÉ and establish its subsidiaries - Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus - as independent entities. He also plans to open a quarter of the bus market in Dublin to competition in 2004 by franchising routes. With that in mind, he will set up a new body to regulate the bus market in the capital. Little of this is entirely new, for there have been a plethora of studies into the transport market.
The question now is whether the Minister's plan looks like delivering a better deal for passengers and the taxpayer?
The answer is Yes and No. Closing down CIÉ Group might prove an administrative nightmare, but it is not an impossible task. Managed well, this could strengthen the operating companies and introduce greater transparancy and efficiency in the management of their subvention. This is a good thing.
The other objective is to improve services, through the stimulation of competition. It is this element of the plan which appears to have prompted the greatest unhappiness among the trade unions. Yet predictable as their response was, it appears that the Government is willing to take them on. Mr Brennan wants an agreed formula for change, so it will be up to him to convince CIÉ workers of the plan's merits.
While there is no plan to privatise the companies, the market itself is being privatised. Still, outright rejection of the project for this reason fails to recognise that there is already limited competition in Dublin and, to a greater extent, in the national market. Dublin Bus also has a new fleet, so it is not going to lose business because of its buses. In addition, CIÉ blames a great deal of its financial difficulties on gridlock, a problem no potential competitor can avoid and one which will stifle the market.
The Government wants better control of traffic under the new regime. Yet that seems beyond all the current transport authorities, so it is difficult to see any new body coming up with a magic solution.
This is the plan's greatest flaw. New regulation will not fix the market. Equally, no amount of competition will eliminate the requirement for State support.