Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I do not oppose the establishment of the Dublin transport authority as it will be important. However, we must change many of the underlying failures that prevented an effective transport strategy during the past decade. It is not that Ministers did not want such a strategy, rather they could not make it occur because many of the strong agencies in question obstructed policy. If we are to change the situation, we must do more than simply establish a new agency. We must have genuine consumer choice and public accountability and we must hunt down the wasteful use of public money, such as in terms of buses. This must be the new standard applied by the DTA. However, the Bill is more of the same — guaranteeing the rights of this or that body to remain exclusive, keeping the Dáil and councils out of the picture and setting up small committees to run the authority. The Minister would have been more effective than those committees had he only done his job, but he was unable to do so. Why did he not do his job during the past decade? Will the Government guarantee that the situation will be different after the establishment of this quango and will the former make targets that will stick?

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