Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have been here for almost three hours. We will take a break for a maximum of ten minutes. A couple of Deputies want to speak a second time, including myself. The witnesses have seen at least two or three Members confused about the role of the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. If Members of the national Parliament are confused, the entire population does not get it. Having "transport" in both organisations' names leaves people utterly confused. My opening question was to ask what each organisation does. The public does not get it. There is total misunderstanding of the organisations' separate roles. They have to do something to separate that in the public mind because they have not even separated it in the minds of many Oireachtas Members. I am looking at the strategies such as Rural Link. Is "Transport for Ireland" not the logo for all the buses? I see the National Transport Authority somewhere, then the buses with a Transport for Ireland logo, then I hear about Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I think the witnesses get my point. Somebody has caused confusion in the public mind by having three different names connected to public transport and nobody knows which is which. I will leave that thought with the witnesses but am not asking them to address that today. It would be good if something could be done to separate matters in the public mind. The names, being so similar, are part of the problem.