Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I welcome those joining us on a live feed on Twitter this afternoon.

The Green Party's message is simple: we need radical reform in Dublin Bus. We also need to dispel the myth that there has been a massive cutback in funding to Dublin Bus. The funding increased marginally last year but Dublin Bus faces a crisis of reduced passenger numbers, fewer people working and shopping. To respond to that crisis it needs to reform itself radically and within a matter of months. I am not convinced that senior management in Dublin Bus is moving fast or far enough to make these changes happen.

We all have our stories and sides to those stories about bus services, but there is also a comprehensive 118 page report telling us what needs to happen. I agree with most of its recommendations. John Lynch, the chairman of CIE, needs to give us an implementation plan with timelines for the changes, within a matter of weeks. Bus Éireann is relatively well managed. It runs a tight ship but could respond better to the needs of users, whether in the towns around Cork city or other parts of the country. I am pleased, however, that it has made many strides in recent years to reform its services.

Dublin Bus needs to do more work to meet the needs of the travelling public in the 21st century. Above all, the Dublin Bus brand needs to be renewed to attract more people onto the buses. There was a period during the height of the economic boom when Dublin Bus attracted many new users, such as people from the immigrant population who came here to work, but in recent months buses are carrying fewer people and therefore have less income. There needs to be a transformation. Dublin Bus needs to get more people out of their cars and onto buses and to do that it must offer a reliable, efficient, punctual service.

While much of this must come from Dublin Bus there is also an onus on local authorities. Dublin City Council particularly should provide the bus company with the priority it needs. Limerick city and county councils need to give the political leadership to provide bus priority on those routes. I am saddened that my colleagues in the Fine Gael Party do not allow buses the priority they deserve in Limerick and other cities. Deputies and councillors are not moving fast enough with change.

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