Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

While I agree with the Deputy I do not want all the new services to be provided on the basis that they will operate only on quality bus corridors. That would leave a huge proportion of the population of an expanding Dublin without a good quality bus service. I would expect and demand of Dublin Bus that it service the market, as it has always done, in a general sense. The private sector, in conjunction with Dublin Bus, can add a great deal of capacity. One of the issues that has been raised consistently with me is connectivity on the orbital side. Not everybody who gets on a bus wants to come into the centre of Dublin. There is a good deal of orbital business available.

The Deputy mentioned capacity. Having discussed this with the private sector in this country and internationally, I want to guarantee a substantial tranche of growth in the market to the private sector. In other words, from now on a certain percentage must go to the private sector so that it does not have to compete with the State companies and so that it gets a guaranteed foothold in the market. That is part of the negotiations. I am not sure if the Deputy's interpretation of what I am doing is exactly that. That is the way forward. I have had discussions with the unions in Dublin Bus. All accept there must be an opening of the market but it must be done in a way that will get private sector capacity into the market and give it the confidence to make substantial investment in what is an expensive capital intensive business. We are close to that position.

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