Ray Hernan, pictured in January 2017 Source: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF Bus Éireann Ray Hernan has announced his intention to step down from the role.

The company let its employees know that Hernan is moving on earlier today.

Hernan is expected to take up a senior role with another company. Stephen Kent, Bus Éireann’s current chief commercial officer, will take over as acting CEO.

Hernan had been CEO for just 19 months from November 2016, presiding over a difficult time for the state bus service.

Industrial unrest in the early months of 2017 followed the news that the company was set to become insolvent if severe cost-cutting measures and restructuring were not put in place.

“On behalf of the board and our staff, I would like to sincerely thank Ray for leading the business through an exceptionally difficult period in our trading history,” Bus Éireann chairman Aidan Murphy told staff in his announcement of Hernan’s departure.

He made a valued contribution by taking – and implementing – the very difficult decisions which were required to stabilise the financial position of the company.

Hernan, an accountant, was tasked with implementing those measures, which saw a rehash of the company’s entire rostering system.

More recently, the company lost the tender for a number of key rural routes to an out-of-state company.

Competition from third-party operators has dealt a significant blow to the company’s overheads in recent times.