Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Who says the existing ones are being used effectively? Neither I nor the Deputy knows the answer to that and I will not spend taxpayers' money — €250,000 on every bus and €80,000 in current expenditure — until I know I am getting value for the buses currently in operation.

I agree with the Deputy that we need a good bus service. We need more routes, including radial and orbital routes, and we need to ensure that when we commence the works in the city centre under Transport 21, we will have a bus service we can stand over and which will accommodate passengers throughout the city.

We want to try to keep the traffic in the city flowing. The only way this can be achieved is through a flexible public transport system with flexible works, not with nonsense involving 25 or 30 buses parked on Marlborough Street, Parnell Square or O'Connell Street taking up road space while the drivers go to have a cup of tea. That is not the kind of service I want to provide. Most people do not want that, be they employed by Dublin Bus or another organisation. I want a good, efficient, economical bus service that can be delivered to the public with flexibility. This is what the public wants and what I will give it.

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