Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

While I welcome the thrust of the response to the question, would it not be advisable to make provision in the new legislation for all bus operators to be obliged to have more sustainable fleets, in order that the low CO2 emissions required of the captive fleets of the national companies would be applicable to all companies? I note in particular that recently, both Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus bought large new fleets contingent on the expansion of their service but the Minister then peremptorily, and as part of the Government cutbacks, slashed their allocations and forced them to rely on older fleets. Is this not part of the problem? Will the Minister include in the legislation a requirement to make it incumbent on all public transport operators to have more sustainable fleets?

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