Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I will but I hear some noise from my right. It sounds like the extreme right of this House.

CIE received a total grant to cover public service obligations and railway safety of €321 million from the taxpayer. I believe we can get much better value for money if we have more competition, not privatisation, through which everybody competes for the routes, for a better service, and is not fighting over political dynasties or State control of issues that go back to Soviet Russia and other such places.

With no competition in the market, there are few incentives for Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to improve quality, frequency and reliability of service or to cut costs and improve efficiency. CIE has traditionally viewed any attempt to introduce competition in the market, even by expanding the number of routes and services, as a threat rather than an opportunity for the company. CIE must view itself as a co-provider, not the sole provider, of a public transport service. Reform of the bus market would provide opportunities for private operators and for CIE, particularly as competition in the market would increase the demand for public transport options.

The Public Transport Regulation Bill does nothing to address these issues and much of the detail of the Bill would be a matter for our proposed Irish transport authority. That detail includes increasing licence fees and deciding whether individual routes could be tendered for or are part of a network of routes. We are being asked to pass legislation, the implications of which are not clear. Fine Gael believes that the bus will remain the most significant public transport option in the short and medium term. For this reason we need to reform our bus networks dramatically to increase capacity, frequency and attractiveness as a public transport option.

The Fine Gael model for a new bus network would be based on competitive tendering for bundles of bus routes. That means identifying the PSO routes and which routes make money for the main carriers. In response to a parliamentary question I tabled some time ago, asking whether CIE could identify through its companies, or if the companies could identify, which routes were PSOs, the Minister said that all routes are PSOs. That does not make sense. There is no transparency and accountability surrounding how Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus spend money.

Deputy Broughan will be happy to hear that a model similar to ours operates in London and has worked exceptionally well, with bus use increasing by 68% between 1999 and 2008. In Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway competition resulted in significant cost reductions. Many of these countries have a social democrat tradition, which shows that competition can operate in a social democracy.

Our new national transport authority would define public transport needs, the routes and services required and benchmark the level of public service subsidy required to operate these routes. It would create a national transport strategy, define the bundled routes and invite tenders for the provision of these services on routes or in a geographic area, in order for operators to service profitable and PSO-supported services. Both CIE companies and private operators would be open to tender for routes in the first instance. This is not privatisation but competition.

Winning operators would sign a five-year contract with the proposed authority to set out service standards such as frequency, cost, reliability and cleanliness. The authority would take ownership of State-owned bus stations and city centre depots. Upon signing of transport contracts, the authority would then allow bus companies to use stations and depot services as part of their service provision contract. It would have primary responsibility in developing park-and-ride facilities.

A key problem is that nobody has statutory responsibility for park-and-ride facilities. As someone who travels frequently to Dublin, I do not have a park-and-ride facility from my hometown in the greater Dublin area. While I accept local authorities in the greater Dublin area are examining plans for such facilities, it is critical their construction is speeded up if we wish to reduce our CO2 emissions and get more people on to public and private buses. Fine Gael will ensure this transport authority will drive that agenda.

An integrated ticketing and pricing structure along with real time transit information is the hallmark of a modern efficient transport network. Work on these projects should be prioritised after years of inaction and delay. Fine Gael will amend planning laws to make local transport plans an integral part of all county council development plans.

The Minister dealt with this in the latter part of his speech stating that within the greater Dublin area, planning permission for a new large housing estate will not be granted unless the developer agrees an access to public transport plan with the National Transport Authority. Using my constituency as an example, the greater Dublin area runs to the River Boyne. North of the River Boyne, however, it will not apply which will exclude Drogheda, a fast growing area in which commuters to Dublin live.

This is the problem with this legislation. Will the Minister consider an amendment to include a north of the River Boyne catchment area in the legislation? One weakness of this process is all amendments must be tabled by 11 o'clock tomorrow morning. That is not enough time to get this important legislation right after 77 years. Will the Minister consider that towns and cities with a population of 36,000 and over would have the same exacting transport-planning regulations as the greater Dublin area? These growing towns and cities need a proper planning strategy. It is not good enough to say there must be due regard to the regional transport issues. They simply will not percolate down to the county development plans for towns and cities outside the greater Dublin area. County Louth, for example, is in the BMW region when it is in effect in the greater Dublin area. The planning and economic issues, such as the North-South corridor, it faces are essentially eastern seaboard development issues, not BMW ones.

The national spatial strategy has identified specific areas across the country which require specific investment models for how they will grow over the years. The issues facing all the strategy's growth centres and other towns without transport plans warrant the attention of the Minister and his officials. Although Fine Gael opposes the legislation, if an amendment to this effect was included it would make a good and constructive change to the Bill.

Transport issues have changed radically since the 1930s. We had out-of-control developers and bankers and a planning system which has led us to the appalling vista we have now in NAMA. The bankers, the builders and the planning were wrong. How many communities have no proper transport plans? They are legion.

The provision of public transport services in Ireland is still largely dominated by the State transport company CIE. In the Dublin region, Dublin Bus still controls the majority of the Dublin bus market as outdated bus licensing law maintains its historical monopoly. However, Dublin Bus has not been able to increase or change its services to meet the demands of a growing city region. I acknowledge I met recently with Dublin Bus which informed me it is putting in place an implementation plan to deal with some issues by the end of 2010.

More than 200,000 of all new homes built in the State from 2000 to 2008 were in the greater Dublin area yet the number of buses in the Dublin Bus fleet remained almost static.

See this speech in context