Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

Given that there is a Railway Procurement Agency for railway infrastructure and a planning body in the Dublin Transportation Office telling us what sort of public transport we need and where the rail lines should be, does the Minister agree the principal role of this new authority will be regulatory? This is crucial and if it is to work it must have real power over other agencies. We must have an agency that tells Dublin Bus, CIE, the RPA, the DTO and local authorities what to do. Will the Minister give the authority absolute powers over such agencies to direct them in their work?

How does the Minister propose to set up a regulatory agency that will tell transport companies what public transport services we should have — in terms of timetables, routes etc. — if he has not solved the issue of what to do with the bus service in Dublin? How can we have a regulatory agency if the authority cannot state at the outset to Dublin Bus and whatever companies work in the area that it is the new regulatory regime, that it will put a franchise in place, set up a bidding system and explain how it will work? Surely a regulatory agency without such authority will not have a real role. Will the authority have those powers and how long will it take to set it up?

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