Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am thoroughly confused. I received a reply from the Minister to a parliamentary question a couple of months ago to the effect that he had moved away from the idea of a Dublin transportation authority. He mentioned a transport commission and then announced a Dublin transportation authority. I wonder what is in and what is out. Will the remit of the Dublin transportation authority merely be to deliver Transport 21, the driving force behind infrastructural projects? Who will organise the competitive tendering process for the liberalisation of the bus market and provide public service contracts? Every time there is a problem a new body seems to be set up. We now have the promised transport commission, the Dublin transportation authority, the RPA procuring rail services, the Dublin Transportation Office and the Quality Bus Network Office, apart from local authorities and everybody else who organises the delivery of transport services. Is there any chance of rationalisation? What plans are in place to liberalise the bus market and when?

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