Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The series of amendments under discussion is not necessary in the context in which I operate. Once the Bill has been enacted, the Minister for Transport will be accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas in respect of the DTA in accordance with the normal arrangements made under Dáil and Seanad Standing Orders. Under the aforementioned Standing Orders, the Minister is answerable to the Dáil regarding the public affairs connected with the Department of Transport and the bodies under its aegis, as well as matters of administration for which I am officially responsible to the Government in respect of Government policy.

I will go through the amendments in this group. On amendment No. 6, the Deputy should note that section 7 provides that any regulation made by a Minister for Transport under the DTA Bill must be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and that either House may, by a resolution passed within 21 sitting days after the date of the regulation, annul the regulation. Consequently, were I to make regulations, they would have to be brought before the Houses which would have the right to discuss them, annul them or confirm them, if they so wished.

In respect of amendment No. 11, I am fully satisfied it would be inappropriate to insert a requirement for the DTA to provide operational information for the Minister or the Oireachtas. The DTA should be allowed to get on with its job, while remaining accountable for the decisions it makes. There should not be someone looking over his or her shoulder every step of the way. I am satisfied that such an approach would not achieve results. In fact, it would probably inhibit good decision making and organisational leadership. Operational matters should be just that. That is not to say that a Deputy, who feels that a certain part of the greater Dublin area is not being adequately served due to the policies of the DTA, has no right to raise that issue by using any of the various means to which we referred earlier. Deputies have a right to bring the DTA before the joint committee, question the Minister on the issue, put special notice questions down and so on. All these mechanisms are available to Members, but I do not think it is a productive use of this House to discuss the timetables of bus companies.

When enacted, the Bill will provide for the publication by the DTA of its draft transport strategy. It is the basis for everything it will do and is effectively its policy document. As Minister, I will outline the broad strategy and the policy I want implemented and the DTA will deal with the implementation process. That draft policy will effectively be the strategic policy over a period of 12 to 20 years. The DTA will have to prepare an integrated implementation plan to follow on from that strategy. That is subject to approval by the Minister and I will be accountable to the House for it. I am not too sure what advantage would accrue from requiring the DTA to provide full strategic policy information to the Minister or the Oireachtas. The DTA should be allowed to get on with its business in that area.

With regard to amendments Nos. 57, 58 and 81, it is important that the Minister be able to issue guidelines and give directions as and when he or she sees fit. He or she should have regard to Government policy and to any other relevant policy considerations, including a report from an Oireachtas committee. However, sometimes a Minister may have to make quick decisions because of something an authority might contemplate doing. The authority could have made decisions and spent money before the Minister got through an unwieldy process, so I believe the amendments would have the opposite effect to that claimed by the Deputy.

In the case of amendment No. 62, the Minister is accountable for the DTA in accordance with the normal arrangement under Dáil and Seanad Standing Orders. However, section 32 of the Bill provides that the DTA's account must be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General, while section 41 provides that the DTA's chief executive must give evidence to the Committee of Public Accounts concerning those accounts and the general economy and efficiency of the authority in the use of its resources.

While I accept the intent and the principle of Deputy's Broughan's amendments, they are adequately catered for in the Bill. There are many sections in the Bill where the Minister has a direct role and is accountable to this House for how he or she discharges that role. Section 12 deals with the transport strategy. Section 13 deals with the integrated implementation plan. The board and the authority are in section 14, while section 17 deals with the advisory council and section 19 deals with the appointment of the CEO. DTA staff and superannuation schemes are in sections 20 and 21. Subsidiaries, resources, policy direction, policy guidelines, advice services, Exchequer funding and borrowing requirements are in sections 24 to 30, respectively. The annual report is in section 32 and disclosure of interests is in section 35, in which a Minister may remove a member of the authority.

Sections 44, 45, 49, 52, 54, 62, 63, 64, 68, 73, 74, 81, 102, 112 and 113 all contain direct intervention powers by the Minister to prevent the DTA from going in the direction suggested by Deputy Broughan. It is a fundamentally different Bill from that which created the HSE. For that reason, I am satisfied the Bill is sufficient to make sure that everybody is accountable to this House and its committees, including the DTA and the Minister.

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