Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

Fianna Fáil has been in Government for 11 years. First, we heard Deputy O'Rourke as Minister for Public Enterprise, followed by Deputy Brennan, then Deputy Cullen and now Deputy Dempsey talk about a Dublin transport authority. These were 11 long wasted years and people are still waiting at the bus stop. The person waiting at the bus stop does not care about the right wing ideology proffered today by Fine Gael, or by the Minister. All they want is to get the bus. The Minister's right wing ideology, backed up by the Progressive Democrats, has held up the development of the fleets of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. Before the general election, the Labour Party proposed an increase in the fleet by at least 50%, or 500 buses, to ensure all new areas of the city, and other cities such as Cork and Limerick, would have an adequate service. However, the Government dithered repeatedly.

We will not be considering the Dublin Transport Authority Bill this session and the Minister is going to Australia. Will the Bill be introduced after Easter? The Minister is now talking about another Bill. He told CIE one thing and The Sunday Business Post another, and he is now telling us something different. All in all, nothing has been achieved. We want to get the buses on the road because, as the Minister knows, we must depend on them until major infrastructure comes on stream in 2015. Only buses can provide the backbone of public transport and it is the Minister's job to provide them. He should forget about the ideology, be it that of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil or the Progressive Democrats, and get the fleet up to scratch. Let us have a decent fleet. At present, people are waiting for such a fleet in Swords, which is likely to have 100,000 people, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, other parts of Dublin, the north and south of Cork city, Limerick and Galway. The routes are frozen and the State bus company is not allowed to add to its fleet.

I remind Deputy O'Dowd that the subsidy to Dublin Bus is the lowest given to any major operator in the European Union. It is the Minister's job to provide the buses to transport passengers to work, school or hospital. He should stop dithering and talking. We could have passed the relevant legislation 11 years ago and, therefore, what is happening is a complete nonsense.

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