Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Luas is a success and it would have been a success three years earlier if the Government has not delayed its introduction. It also delayed providing buses for Dublin city, while the Minister's party argued with the ideological mullahs in the Progressive Democrats about how many buses there should be in Dublin and whether those buses should be privately or publicly operated. There were no new buses until 2005. Only about 100 new buses were provided since 1997, at a time when the population of the greater Dublin area has increased by 250,000. Is it any wonder there has been such a huge increase in carbon emissions from the transport sector?

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