Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Minister gave the chairperson an extraordinary brief — to go away and find out what her job was and to come back then and tell him. This does not inspire confidence that the setting up of the body has been given great thought. When will we get the legislation that will give this body teeth? Transport 21 is just drifting along in the meantime. All the individual projects are either progressing or not progressing, depending on the various agencies involved. There is downright inter-agency rivalry where there should be co-operation, co-ordination and integration. It is totally destructive and contrary to the public interest that some agencies are denigrating the work of other agencies. It is up to the Minister to get someone to knock some heads together to ensure that all the bodies act in the public interest. I could give a dozen examples of circumstances in which that is simply not happening at present. No progress has been made on integrated ticketing, for example. There is an ongoing row between Dublin Bus and Luas about the use of O'Connell Bridge. Why has the second bridge, which has been promised in Dublin for ten years, not been finished? I refer to the Macken Street bridge, for which the Department of Transport and Dublin City Council are responsible. No co-ordination is taking place in respect of many such projects, all of which will perish on the same rock of indecision because the agencies cannot decide which of them is right. The proposed new Dublin transport authority must be established and allowed to make decisions in the public interest. When will the legislation be brought before the House?

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