Richard Boyd Barrett urges state order for 500 electric buses
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett urged the Taoiseach to contact Wright Bus and place an order for 500 electric buses to preserve jobs and decarbonise the public fleet. He framed the proposal as a concrete, cross-border gesture to challenge sectarian designations in Northern politics.
Proposal to order electric buses
The deputy asked the Taoiseach to consider placing an order with Wright Bus for 500 electric buses. He said such an order would help decarbonise the bus fleet and add 500 electric vehicles to the public transport network.
Jobs and the Wright Bus workforce
He noted Wright Bus employed about 500 workers, Catholic and Protestant, who had faced redundancy concerns before a new buyer emerged. The deputy argued a procurement order would help maintain jobs and support the workforce during a fragile period.
Challenging sectarian designation
The deputy criticised the requirement in the Assembly to designate oneself as Nationalist or Unionist and said that People Before Profit had been excluded from lists of “all‑Ireland” parties in earlier remarks. He said institutionalised sectarian labels need concrete measures to be challenged, not just aspirations.
North‑South cooperation and environment
Framing the bus order as a cross‑border, North‑South gesture, he said it would symbolise cooperation across sectarian lines while delivering positive environmental impact through decarbonisation.
Follow-up and request to the Taoiseach
The deputy said he and his party had written to the Taoiseach that day and that an email would be sent. He asked whether the Taoiseach thought the proposed order was practicable both to benefit the fleet and to challenge sectarian demarcation lines in a positive way.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Deputy Boyd Barrett I noted your earlier comments about the need to have politics not simply defined in the North as Nationalists or Unionists Not surprisingly you didn't mention People Before Profit as part of the list of all Ireland parties were other We declare as other and since the assembly was set up we have railed against the fact that you're required to designate yourself in that way because it institutionalises sectarianism but I think we need concrete measures and not just aspirations and I have suggested to you and we've gone to the extent of writing to you today making a suggestion to you about how we could actually concretise the effort to cross certain boundaries specifically asking you to contact Wright Bus, the company where 500 workers, Catholic and Protestant threatened with redundancy, looks as if that's been overcome now, a new buyer has come in but to suggest given our need for decarbonising our bus fleet that we would put an order in with Wright Bus for 500 buses to add to our fleet electric buses which would help both decarbonise our fleet but be a tremendous gesture across the border, across sectarian lines about the value of cooperation North-South across sectarian lines but also maintaining jobs and positively impacting on the environment It seems to me that is a very good suggestion we are making to you Taoiseach You will receive the email today but I'd be interested to know whether you think that would be something we could do both for our own sake and for challenging, if you like, sectarian demarcation lines in a positive way that brings people together You
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
