Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The Minister puts much store in the famous ten-year transport plan for which we have been waiting for the past ten months or so, but I am sure he will forgive us for being utterly sceptical about plans. The public shares our scepticism. The experience with the most recent plan, the national development plan, was that it gave absolute guarantees on funding allocations. That plan provided for an additional 275 buses for Dublin Bus — an absolute guarantee of funding set in stone as part of the national development plan. However, not one additional bus has been provided to Dublin Bus since 2001. Meanwhile, the demand for public transport is exploding in the city and thousands of people are turned away from buses daily during the morning and evening peak hours.

Why should we believe anything the Minister says in respect of this famous transport plan when he has not honoured the commitments he gave under the national development plan? Some 275 buses were promised but only 93 were delivered, and that was before 2001. Where are the other 182 buses? When will the Minister deliver them as promised? When will he make some impact on meeting the huge unmet demand for bus services in the Dublin area?

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