School bus operators contracted to work for Bus Eireann say they are expected to finance the State's school transport infrastructure on as little as £50 a day in some cases.
Contractors in Carlow, Wicklow, Waterford, Wexford, Kildare and Kilkenny have written to the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Woods, saying they are finding it impossible to operate school bus routes on rates which, they claim, were fixed by CIE more than a decade ago. No reply has yet been received.
Advertisements state that those applying to operate school transport services on a contractual basis must provide a vehicle "of the capacity and standards required", and the contractors say they find it difficult to cover the costs of vehicle upkeep, storage, fuel and insurance.
Bus Eireann has promised the school bus contractors a general increase in rates from September when their yearly contracts are renewed, following the approval of the Department of Education. The contractors say they fear the extent of the increase will be withheld from them until they sign new agreements. Mr Pat Barton, who runs a fleet of private buses in Kildare, said he sympathised with the contractors' plight.
"Private businesses have a choice. If they don't want to work for Bus Eireann at silly rates they don't have to do it . . . but the reality is that a lot of people around the country have to take up the jobs to survive," he said.
However, the Federation of Transport Operators, which represents 1,250 contractors, 80 per cent of whom are involved in school transport, said the contractors who had written to the Minister were adopting an "old-fashioned" attitude.
Mr John Dunne, head of the federation, said: "We have advised them to go to their regional managers and look for wage increases. If they are not paying them, they shouldn't be doing the work," he said.
A spokesman for Bus Eireann, Mr Cyril McIntyre, rejected the suggestion that some contractors had not received a wage increase for more than 10 years, and said he would not comment on rates paid to individuals.
"That's between the company and each individual contractor. There is a provision for an increase for contractors this year," he said.
"All bus operators have difficulties with rising bus costs, we have that difficulty ourselves. We've had to deal with high fuel costs, wage costs and so on. We're in the same boat ourselves."
Addressing the contractors' fear that they would not be made aware of the extent of the increase for the coming year, he said: "Increases are applied at the time of negotiations for the coming year. There is nothing unusual about that."
