By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
A FAMILY-RUN bus company has claimed they were able to buy a lucrative Bus Éireann school route – even though they did not have a licence to operate at the time.
They say that in a deal overseen by Bus Éireann, in early 2000, another private operator offered them a £6,000 bus for £28,000 – with a guarantee that the route would come with it.
The deal took place despite the fact that Bus Éireann contracts held by private operators are not meant to be sold or transferred to third parties.
But the family claim that a £22,000 premium on the price of the bus was to be shared between the operator selling the bus and the Bus Éireann officials to ensure the route was successfully transferred.
The family also allege they immediately began bringing children to school on the route – months before they received their Road Passenger Transport Operator’s Licence (RPTOL).
Under the Road Transport Acts every bus operator must hold an RPTOL and one of its conditions is the operator must have a qualified transport manager who holds a certificate of professional competence. ‘I had to do a course on that, two nights a week,’ a family member said. ‘So I did that and got it months later.’ The family, who have provided, bank drafts, cheques and receipts in support of their allegations, also allege that they paid £17,000 for another £6,000 bus a year later – with a guarantee of a route being transferred to them.
The allegations follow three weeks of controversy after the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that several whistleblowers have alleged they paid – or were compelled to pay – cash and gifts to obtain and keep their school routes.
Bus Éireann has denied the allegations and insisted there is no evidence to support any of the claims. But a secret tape of one of the whistleblowers being interviewed by a Bus Éireann investigation team has cast doubt on the company’s efforts to investigate corruption claims. The tape appears to contradict an investigation summary that Bus Éireann chief executive Martin Nolan sent to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.
Following publication of the tape transcript by the MoS, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar demanded a report which Bus Éireann is due to submit to him along with the Tourism and Education ministers in the coming days.
The family who have turned whistleblower say they are prepared to go to the gardaí.
‘It was the only way you could get into Bus Éireann,’ said one family member. ‘We were told how Bus Éireann officials worked at the time in the area. So that’s how we got in. We had to pay money.
‘We signed up to start operating the school run without even an operator’s licence.
‘It was obvious that the operator was looking after [named Bus Éire-ann official]. Your man in Bus Éireann set it up and away we went.’ Documentation supports the family’s claim that they did not have a licence when they initially began operating on the school route.
Three months after they had begun bringing children to school a consultant they engaged to apply for their operator’s licence invoiced the family and wished them well in their new business.
The invoice reads: ‘Congratulations on your success in acquiring a Road Passenger Transport Operator’s Licence and may I wish you every success in your business.’ The family say that, aside from buying their first routes, they never paid any direct bribes. But they allege that: ‘The only way not to get grief was to pay.
‘A seat belt might not be working on a 29-seater with only 10 kids on it and they’d ring and say, “I want that bus off the road this evening.” ‘So we think that was a way of asking us for money. If we paid at that stage, there wouldn’t be a problem.’ After a series of tests ordered by Bus Éireann on the family firm’s fleet were completed, their school routes were cancelled.
Now in the wake of the allegations highlighted by the MoS investigation, the family are calling for an independent inquiry into allegations of corruption in school transport.
‘All we want is truth. That’s all,’ said one family member. ‘Someone has to intervene and start from the start about the allocation of contracts and how it’s operated.’ The MoS provided Bus Éireann with a transcript of our interview with the family. A spokeswoman said the company wanted ‘to reaffirm that the systems put in place to administer the criteria for the procurement of school transport contractors services are consistently applied in a fair, transparent and impartial manner’.
She said Bus Éireann would never apologise for terminating a contract for reasons of safety concerns.
‘The safety of schoolchildren travelling on board our school transport services is our highest priority,’ she said.
She reiterated previous Bus Éireann calls for ‘anyone with evidence of any corruption charges to bring it to the attention of the authorities’.
‘We would urge the contractor you have spoken to, to inform the gardaí and we will cooperate with any investigation,’ she said.
