Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 16, between lines 42 and 43, to insert the following:

"(11) (a) When submitting a draft of its transport strategy to the Minister under subsection (9), the Authority shall send a copy of that draft to the Joint Oireachtas Committee.

(b) Whenever so requested, the chairperson and the chief executive shall appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee to discuss the draft strategy.

(c) The Joint Oireachtas Committee may, within 4 weeks of its receipt of the draft transport strategy, submit a report to the Minister containing recommendations on it.

(d) In this section "Joint Oireachtas Committee" means a Joint Committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas to which the Oireachtas has assigned the role of examining matters relating to transport.".

This amendment is designed to give the Joint Committee on Transport the opportunity to engage with the Dublin Transport Authority prior to the Minister for Transport's approving its transport strategy. Deputies will recall that members of the committee expressed the view on Committee Stage that they should have the opportunity to comment on the draft strategy in advance of it being approved by the Minister for Transport. This amendment inserts the new subsection (11) into section 12, specifying that when submitting a draft of its transport strategy to the Minister the authority shall also send the draft to the Joint Committee on Transport. The committee may request an appearance by the chairperson and chief executive of the authority to discuss the draft strategy and shall submit a report to the Minister containing a recommendation on the draft strategy before the Minister decides on the strategy.

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