Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I have a sense of déjÀ vu because I recall asking the same question of the Minister before the previous one. With the metro project gone down the tubes, if the pun can be excused, the future of buses has taken on a new urgency. I know the Minister has not said the metro project is definitely gone, but it has certainly been set back by ten years. Even if a decision was made in the morning, we would not have a metro or even a new Luas line within ten years. Buses therefore take on a special importance in the future.

Previous Ministers have said that we cannot have competition without breaking up CIE. Is that still the case or was it merely a distraction in order to postpone a decision? Can we have competition and still leave the Transport Act in place? It seems this is always the excuse for nothing being done. Dublin Bus is currently screaming for buses. It built a garage for buses it never acquired. It was promised 150 buses under the national development plan but they never arrived. Dublin Bus now has so much garage space that it is closing garages, though the promise under the national development plan was that the company would be fully resourced. Either Dublin Bus provides the buses, or competition must be allowed. There is currently a great need for extra buses, not merely for new routes but for existing routes.

Is the legislation responsible for the hold up or is there a lack of will to engage with CIE? What is the Minister's thinking in this area? Do we need to break up CIE in order to provide competition and put a few extra buses on the roads in Dublin? That is the only way in which a complete clogging up of the city can be prevented.

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