Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

This is probably the final question time with the Minister for Transport in this Dáil; when we reached the final Question Time on transport in the previous Dáil, we were also promised a Dublin transport authority but it has not been established. The legislation has not been published and I do not know whether the Minister is even still promising to publish it before the end of this Dáil. It will not be passed and the authority, therefore, will not be established to deal with the significant issues facing Dublin such as the increasing incidence of gridlock and the failure of public transport providers and local authorities to work together as they continue to compete with one another. It is little wonder a decision cannot be made on how to join the Luas lines or provide integrated ticketing. There has been a complete failure to plan and co-ordinate the major infrastructure projects under way in Dublin. The port tunnel is pouring traffic on to the M50, which is a building site that is about to worsen. Absolutely nobody is driving all the decisions that need to be made urgently in the city. Will the Minister explain how the Government has taken five years to fail to deliver on the one initiative that might effect some change in transport in Dublin?

Will he also explain why he deliberately misled the public by promising 100 buses for the private sector? A further 100 buses were to be delivered through the Dublin transport authority but that authority has not yet been set up. The Minister did not mention that it could not be set up until he passed another Bill to reform the Road Transport Act 1999. As everybody in the House knows, reform of that Act has been promised since it was first passed and it is as likely to happen as is draining the Shannon.

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