Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I want to talk today about the Patton Flyer, which is the magic bus of the 21st century. The Minister may be old enough to remember the song of that name released by The Who back in 1968. It is an excellent bus service that carries passengers from Dalkey, Glasthule, Dún Laoghaire and Monkstown to and from Dublin Airport. The people of these areas want to see the service retained. I put this in the context of the Department of Transport's development of a sustainable transport and travel action plan, one of the purposes of which is to encourage people to use buses more. This bus serves areas that have no alternative bus or rail links to the airport. It is a punctual, well operated service that is invaluable to residents. I used the service on the one occasion I went to Dublin Airport in the past year, but many of my constituents use it on a regular basis, not just to catch flights but because they work at Dublin Airport and want to get there without driving.

The bus uses the port tunnel and serves the county town of Dún Laoghaire, which has no other service to the airport. There is the Aircoach service that goes from Greystones to the airport via Bray, Shankill, Blackrock, Booterstown and Sandymount, but the Patton Flyer is the only service that connects Dalkey, Glasthule, Dún Laoghaire and Monkstown with Dublin Airport. Dublin Bus runs the 4A service, but this starts at Blackrock and goes to Harristown bus depot, which is adjacent to the main runway at the airport but is miles from the departure building.

Dún Laoghaire has a population of 26,000, which is not far off the population of Leitrim at 29,000. Imagine if we were to cut Leitrim off from all bus services. The lack of services to Dún Laoghaire has the same effect of making it difficult for people to travel. The problem here is the licensing procedure. Operators must wait months for a licence to be issued and if it is refused they are in contravention of the legislation. I note that the Department of Transport has referred the matter to the Garda for non-compliance with the legislation, and the matter now rests with the Garda. It is a strange that a bus operator who provides a much-needed service is deemed to be operating illegally. This is at a time when we are trying to encourage more people to use buses and public transport to achieve sustainable travel. We are making it extremely difficult for people to provide these services even though they have taken a considerable business risk.

I note that there is another private bus operator in the north Dublin area who had to wait two and a half years for a decision on a licence application. The root cause of this is the outdated 1932 Road Transport Act under which licences are issued. Under that Act, which dates from more than three quarters of a century ago, an operator can be fined the heady sum of £50 for running an unlicensed service, plus £5 per day for repeat offences. This equates to €7.50 per day. This legislation must be modernised.

I carry no brief for Dublin Bus, Aircoach or the Patton Flyer. Today is not the time to argue about the merits of public and private bus services. However, I do carry a mandate from the people of Dún Laoghaire. They want a service to the airport that is efficient and reliable and that does the job. Dublin Bus does a good job and has risen to the challenge of providing new routes in certain areas, but the private sector has provided some excellent new services and deserves support where it is innovative and responds to travellers' needs. Let us modernise the legislation, speed up the processing of applications and have a clear and transparent system. Let us reform the antiquated legislation and continue to provide a necessary service via the Patton Flyer to the people of Dalkey, Glasthule, Dún Laoghaire and Monkstown.

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