Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

In the current economic climate, I secured subvention, or investment as the unions like to call it, of more than €313 million for the bus and train services. That is a lot of money and we do not have any more to give to the companies. We have a blueprint in respect of Bus Átha Cliath and Bus Éireann as to how we can encourage a greater number of passengers, which is what I desire. I seek an efficient and effective service that meets the needs of customers. Capacity already exists in the system and we must get passengers to use it. I am focused on doing this, both through the companies themselves and by trying to eliminate pinch points around the city and trying to ensure the implementation of integrated ticketing, real-time information and an understandable network. I am trying to ensure that people can get a bus when they need one and not have three buses when they do not. This is what I intend to try to do and the way to succeed is to try to ensure the implementation of the Deloitte report. I will devote all my efforts to this end in the future.

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