Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

My Department is proceeding with preparations for the establishment of the Dublin Transport Authority during 2009. A key part of those preparations is the recruitment of a CEO. The necessary recruitment process has now been concluded and I expect to be in a position to announce the outcome in the near future. The annual salary for the CEO post will be €211,363.

In accordance with section 14 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, the Minister for Transport is responsible for appointing the members of the DTA. Membership of the authority will comprise a chairperson, three ex officio members and six ordinary members. The chairperson and six ordinary members must be persons who, in the opinion of the Minister for Transport, have wide experience of transport, industrial, commercial, financial, land use planning or environmental matters, the organisation of workers or administration.

Last March I invited applications from people who wish to be considered for appointment as an ordinary member of the new authority. The purpose of the application process was to encourage people who believe that they can make a positive contribution to the development of the transport system in the greater Dublin area to put their names forward for consideration. The process yielded 66 applications, which I am considering. The procedure for the appointment of the 24 members of the Dublin Transport Advisory Council is set out in section 17 of the 2008 Act.

In January 2009, the Government approved the general scheme of the Public Transport Regulation Bill which contains proposals for a new bus licensing regime which will replace the Road Transport Act 1932 and the provisions of the Transport Act 1958 that relate to the provision of bus services by the State bus companies. It is proposed that responsibility for bus licensing and public transport services contracts nationwide will be assigned to the DTA under the Bill, which will also provide for the absorption of the Commission for Taxi Regulation into the DTA. The Bill will also provide for the renaming of the DTA as the National Transport Authority given its proposed national focus in relation to commercial bus licensing, future bus and rail subvention and the regulation of small public service vehicles. The draft Bill has now been prepared and has been circulated to Departments for observations. On their receipt, it is my intention to seek Government approval for the publication of the Bill as soon as possible.

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