A number of businesses have said they are calling it quits on certain contracts and services in recent days, citing sharp rises in the cost of fuel and operating costs.
Speaking to Liveline, Paudie Kenneally of Kenneally Coach Hire, Newcastle West, Limerick said: “I’m not going to go bankrupt to cover school runs for Bus Éireann or anyone.”
Mr Kenneally said he cannot carry on operating his school buses following the Easter holidays. He said he had waited to see what sort of Government package had come through, and when he saw the package last Sunday, he said it confirmed to him that it was “time to call it a day.”
The well-known Limerick school transport provider described fuel price hikes as “astronomical.” Mr Kenneally, who took to social media to announce the decision to cease business, said it was “heartbreaking” and brought to an end a legacy of school transport provided by the Kenneally family spanning 42 years.
In a social media statement, Mr Kenneally said that he was not going to go bankrupt to cover school runs.
“My late father and myself are covering school runs for 42 years. I feel sorry for our kids using our services, but this is now a race to the bottom and I won’t be working like that. To be fair, our operating costs in the last three years have soared,” he said in the widely shared statement.
He pointed out that diesel prices have risen by as much as 35 cent per litre in the last month alone, making the small margins of the School Transport Scheme unsustainable.
Speaking to Kerry Today, Mr Kenneally said things were not making financial sense, and his business was operating at a loss in the three weeks prior to Easter.
“We couldn’t operate with the cost that had come upon us, and it was time to get out. I would be subsidising my private hire, and my school services.”
Mr Kenneally, whose father drove school buses in the 1960s when the school bus scheme began, said the business has never experienced such difficult circumstances.
“It was tax upon tax upon tax, and it wasn’t adding up,” he said.
Asked if fuel protests across the country brought things to a head, Mr Kenneally said that things came to a head when the war in Iran started, with the protests highlighting the situation further.
“I’m just working at a loss. It’s no good,” the 51-year-old said.
“Of course it was very difficult. I drive children with special educational needs, so it was heartbreaking. I drive second generation families […] but at the end of the day, I have to make sure that I’m going to [be able to] stay on the road.”
He said there would be 700 or 800 children affected, with 13 school bus services leaving his yard every morning, but now that has ceased.
“This is going to break operators,” he said, adding that he would now have to concentrate on private operations to survive.
“I see that the more I work, the less I have – that’s the long and short of it. I’ve done 20 hour days between management and everything else, and I’ve worked exceptionally hard.”
“I’m not going to go bankrupt to cover school runs for Bus Éireann or anyone. We have been covering these runs for over four decades, but this has become a race to the bottom. I stated I would hold out until the Easter holidays to see what the government would offer. After their announcement, the figures simply didn’t add up,” his social media statement added.
In a previous message, Mr Kenneally expressed support for those protesting.
“I want to applaud all the protestors all over the country. Old age pensioners, young lads on tractors, haulage men and women, bus operators like myself.
“Rural Ireland and small businesses are finished. I employ 17 staff and our operating costs and diesel costs and VAT on buses and parts will put us to the wall. It’s tax upon tax.”
Bus Éireann, which manages the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education, told Live95FM that it was disappointed at the manner of the announcement.
“Bus Éireann is trying to secure alternative transport solutions as a priority. We will contact families directly when transport becomes available,” the statement said.
A spokesperson said that any contractor wishing to withdraw should do so through formal channels as opposed to social media to prevent “distress and confusion” for families.
CAVAN AGRI-CONTRACTOR CLOSES DOWN SERVICES
Elsewhere, an agricultural business in Shercock, Co. Cavan, is also shutting down its agri-contracting services, again pointing to rising fuel costs.
Owner Cormac McBreen told Agriland: “I’m shutting down the agri-contracting side. It’s this simple – it’s not sustainable.”
Mr McBreen told Liveline this week: “I’m not fighting anymore with this,” adding that his decision had been motivated by the Government’s response to the fuel protests.
“I’m not reversing [the decision],” he said. “I made the decision when we were escorted out of the city [during the fuel protests] with two motorbikes either side of me like a criminal. It’s a thing that will never leave me. I cried the whole way through Navan. I met hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people protesting.”
“The government and everyone else can butter this up whatever way they want, and they can play around with figures.”
He told Agriland that the diesel was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” adding that cost increases had been seen across the board.
“Every bit of machinery is up. A tractor that was €95,000 in 2019 is now €175,000. A fusion baler has jumped from €65,000 10 years ago to over €100,000. Silage harvesters have gone up,” he added. “Everything is skyrocketing.”
He said that the Government’s fuel supports scheme left him “speechless.”
“The package deal – the 2.5 cent plus VAT – that was one of the first cuts. And then the one last week was – I’m still speechless – 5 cent off agri-diesel.”
“In my opinion, they may start buying tractors because I don’t know who’ll do the jobs for the farmers on the ground.”
In a statement on social media, Mr McBreen said: “After hearing of the .025 cent off green diesel from our government and weighing things up we have decided to halt the agri-contracting services as of midnight tonight (April 13).
“For starters my mental health cannot take it.”
Mr McBreen said he is trying to keep his staff in work for as long as possible, and that he will be relocating some staff to work on his farm and quarry work.