A private bus service linking Galway and Shannon Airport has been suspended after the company was threatened with prosecution for operating without a licence.
Citylink suspended the five-times-a-day service after the Department of Transport warned that it could face prosecution. The company applied for a licence for the route last April but started operating a "travel club" on the route in June, before the Department made any decision on its application.
A spokesman for the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said a decision on Citylink's application would be made within the next few weeks. He said the company was issued with the warning on foot of legal advice from the Attorney General's office to the Department.
According to Mr Allen Parker, managing director of the company's Irish operations, Citylink suspended the service "temporarily" because of a "technical licensing issue". Declining to say whether the Department had objected to the service, he explained the decision was taken following an "internal management review".
He acknowledged the delay in a decision on its application had led to "some frustration". "We're disappointed that we can't give the customers a choice on the route."
Mr Parker said Citylink's presence on the route had provided a much-appreciated new service for customers as well as keeping prices down. Bus Éireann had increased the frequency of its services to Shannon Airport in response to the arrival of a private competitor, he pointed out.
However, Bus Éireann said it was "a coincidence" that it had improved its services on the route.
A spokesman said the company had applied to the Department for an increase in frequency months before Citylink came on the scene.
The affair highlights growing competition between Bus Éireann and private operators on provincial routes. Citylink, a Singapore-owned company, acquired a Galway-based coach firm in 2002 and now provides 13 services a day between Galway, Dublin and Dublin Airport.
However, its ambitious plans for further expansion, starting with a service between Galway and Cork, have been stymied by delays in the application process for licences. The Road Transport Act 1932 requires all private operators to apply for licences, and the Department warns that these can take "some time" to process.
Mr Parker claims Bus Éireann has held down prices on the Galway-Dublin route because of the competition on the route.
Citylink charges €16 for a monthly return on the route, the same as Bus Éireann.
However, Bus Éireann charges €23.50 for a monthly return between Dublin and Sligo, and €49.25 on the Dublin-Belfast route, where there is less competition.
The Bus Éireann spokesman said the lower prices on the Galway route were partly due to competition, and partly due to increased demand. The company increased its fares by 2.75 per cent earlier this month.
