In the programme for Government, there is a commitment to investigate a full review of public transport policy to ensure that services are sustainable into the future and meet the needs of a modern economy. The Minister will know that the Government is the sole shareholder and that it has a responsibility and a duty to ensure that our public services function properly and effectively in the public interest. The Minister should also acknowledge that the Government is failing in this. Today, workers from Bus Éireann will be outside Leinster House demanding that the Government, and particularly the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, engage, urgently and in a proper fashion, with the unions and the management to seek a resolution to this strike. In the face of action that is having serious consequences for tens of thousands of citizens caused by the Government's policy, particularly citizens in rural Ireland, it is unacceptable that the Government has chosen to stick its head in the sand. Will the Minister agree to an early debate in the Dáil on the Bus Éireann strike and will the Minister, Deputy Ross - Minister "Now you see him, mostly you do not" - do the right thing and engage with the unions and management?

On the same matter, the programme for Government speaks to the need for investment in our public transport to uphold the principles of smarter travel and policies. How will that be possible if the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is satisfied to allow one of the most important pieces of strategic public transport to be undermined by a management determined to cut routes as well as the pay and conditions of its workers?

Deputy Adams has called for a debate. I understand that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, is before the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport today and will, I am sure, answer questions from all Deputies on the matter.

Reference was made to investment in Bus Éireann. I stated earlier that it is because of the Government's recognition of the importance of public transport that it has invested over €200 million in public services in recent years. In the absence of that investment, these public services would not be available.

Reference was made to the resolution of this problem. As the Minister, Deputy Ross, has said on several occasions – the Government supports him fully in this regard – the mechanism by which these issues must be resolved, ultimately, is through the industrial relations machinery of the State. I outlined earlier, in answer to similar questions from Deputy Martin, that the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court handle thousands of these issues for the country year after year. In order to ensure their continued role in matters of deep importance, it is crucial that the Government supports them.