As troubled private business firms clamour for Government support in the run-up to October’s budget, do not forget that some of the biggest casualties belong to the Government itself. There will be quite a bill for operating subsidies and balance sheet repairs for the State commercial companies.

In the worst months, public transport volumes simply collapsed. Passenger numbers were down by at least 90% and they have made only a weak recovery. Companies such as Irish Rail, Dublin Airport and the two State bus operators have high fixed costs and have been slow to cut back, so they have begun to incur horrendous losses.

The airport operator DAA has been able to pay decent dividends to the Exchequer in recent years – last year it paid €40m – as have ESB, Ervia (owner of the gas grid and Irish Water) and several others.

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While companies such as Irish Water, the ESB, Bord na Móna and Coillte will all face problems, it is the State transport companies that have taken the biggest hit

The first hit to the State’s finances will be the inability of several companies to make any dividend payments. But the collapse in revenues will be enough to require actual operating subventions to companies which were able to stand alone financially in the past.

The broad picture is that car traffic has recovered in Dublin to about 83% of the pre-COVID-19 level and to 89% outside the capital

While companies such as Irish Water, the ESB, Bord na Móna and Coillte will all face problems, it is the State transport companies that have taken the biggest hit. The only exception seems to be the seaports, where freight volumes have held up reasonably well, but Dublin, Rosslare and Cork ports have registered weaker passenger figures.

On Monday, the Central Statistics Office released data up to the first week of August tracking the course of transport volumes since the downturn commenced early in March.

The broad picture is that car traffic has recovered in Dublin to about 83% of the pre-COVID-19 level and to 89% outside the capital.

But bus patronage in Dublin is only 43% of the March level, 47% outside Dublin.

Rail passengers

Rail passenger patronage (including DART and Dublin suburban) has done worst of all and is stuck at 38% of pre-COVID-19 volume. The Luas tram system in Dublin has recovered only 40% of the pre-COVID-19 numbers. A world of social distancing creates nervous commuters, the private car is preferred and its share of a smaller market has risen at the expense of public transport.

The three State companies in the CIE group, Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, have sought to maintain frequent schedules despite low occupancy. Their fare revenues will have declined dramatically, their operating costs only a little, so they must be incurring huge losses.

All three are in receipt of direct and indirect state subvention in normal times and these Exchequer costs are bound to escalate when the sums are totted up.

Dublin paid the Exchequer €40m in dividend last year but will need subvention too on current trends

Dublin Airport, owned by DAA –which also operates Cork as well as an overseas airport retailing business – has reported that it is losing €1m per day. Traffic in July, after the lockdown had eased, was down 90% on the previous year and some airlines are contemplating cutbacks from September.

Dublin paid the Exchequer €40m in dividend last year but will need subvention too on current trends. No other airport in the Republic was able to cover costs even in the good years and decisions will have to be made about long-term policy – the airport at Waterford has been kept open since 2016 without any scheduled services at all and the smaller airports, including Shannon, could face the same fate over the winter in a worst-case scenario.

Losses at Shannon, which are covered out of the rent roll from former Shannon Development industrial properties, must be crippling and the airport has only a handful of daily departures.

The State will have no option but to find the funds to keep its transport companies alive

There is no guarantee that Ryanair, the sole surviving scheduled operator at Shannon, will stay the course – it has just announced that 20% of planned schedules will be axed next month.

Both Cork and Shannon needed generous parents before the COVID-19 downturn, while Carrickfin, Kerry and Knock have always been sustained with Exchequer support.

The country must have airports and must have public transport, in the cities and in the interurban markets. The State will have no option but to find the funds to keep its transport companies alive.

But there are choices when resources are constrained and there are other priorities. How many airports do you need, in a small country with an improving road network? If the Government is serious about converting car transport to decarbonised electric mode over the next decade or two, as promised in the Climate Action Plan last year, is there such a strong case for heavy investment in getting drivers out of their cars and on to public transport?

In deciding what course to take with the State companies in the transport and energy sectors, mopping up after COVID-19 will coincide with facing the deferred challenge of climate action.