Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for proposing this Adjournment matter, which I take on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey.

The Road Transport Act 1932, as amended, provides the statutory basis for regulating the provision of public bus services by private bus operators. In accordance with the legislation, private bus operators apply to the Department of Transport for licences to operate scheduled bus passenger services within the State. Section 11 of the Act establishes specific criteria for the determination of applications, which provide that the service is required in the public interest having regard to the passenger road services and other forms of passenger transport available to the public on or in the neighbourhood of the route of the proposed service, whether the service is sufficient in terms of frequency and duration to meet the requirements of the public and whether the applicant has the organisation and equipment necessary to carry out the service.

There are no undue delays with the processing of either licence applications from private operators or notifications from State companies. The Department turns around straightforward applications within a matter of weeks. However, where there are prior applications for licences from other private operators or notifications from State companies, a decision on an application must be deferred until such time as the prior applications have been decided. In these cases, while the preliminary work may have been completed on a particular application, a final decision cannot be made until other relevant applications or notifications received prior to it have been finalised. In other cases, the application process can be delayed where relevant information is not provided by an applicant, such as an updated road passenger transport operator's licence, current public service vehicle licences and approvals from the Garda under the Road Traffic Acts for pick-up and-or set-down points. All applications and notifications are assessed by the Department on receipt and decisions made as to whether they can be issued promptly or deferred for the reasons mentioned above. Applicants are advised accordingly.

On 20 February 2007, the Department received an application from the operator concerned for a licence to operate bus passenger services between Dalkey and Dublin Airport. At that time, the Department advised the applicant that the application was being held until such time as a decision on a prior application for services on a similar route from another private operator had been determined. The prior application has been finalised and the licence issued to Aircoach for the provision of bus passenger services between Greystones and Dublin Airport. The licensed service also caters for passengers travelling from the areas of Bray and Blackrock and is meeting the needs of passengers by providing an express service via the port tunnel to Dublin Airport.

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