Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 6, between lines 38 and 39, to insert the following:

"(iii) carriage is provided for passengers on a pre-booked basis following a flexible route with varied stops with a specified geographical area, and".

This amendment seeks to add a third definition to section 2(c). Amendment No. 7 relates to Part 2, the core of the Bill, dealing with the new licensing system. Hopefully, at long last we will have a coherent, regulated licensing system for buses and it will end the effects of the scandalous lethargy of the Governments of the past 13 years. I seek for the granting of licences such that a licence shall specify the route and that the public bus passenger service should follow the commencement and completion points of the service and any stopping points along that route.

The rationale behind amendment No. 7 is related to the licensing of a flexible routed or demand responsive services such as those described in amendment No. 1. They already operate as part of the rural transport network programme in Ireland and many other countries. The UK operates the Public Service Vehicles (Registration of Local Services) Amendment Regulations 2004. This allows for the registration and route licensing of several flexible services. These include a many to one service, picking up individual passengers from a location specified by them and taking them to a single fixed destination; a one to many service, the above service in reverse; and a many to many service offering maximum flexibility and picking up passengers from various locations on demand and taking them to disparate destinations within a defined operational area on demand. That is also the transport rationale for amendment No. 2.

Amendment No. 7, a related amendment, is proposed because demand is very difficult to measure. The point of the amendment is that it should be up to those private operators who propose new routes to devise a business plan, measure demand and put forward proposals. The amendments are built around a structure to support the rural transport network. I realise the Minister of State's party has held some discussions on the rural transport network. The Labour Party believes it is one of the best and most valuable initiatives of the Government in the past seven or eight years. There are now approximately 37 operators in every county, including my county of Fingal. Some 1.3 million passengers are carried per annum. Some 750 are employed including between 70 and 80 full time drivers. A very fine service is offered to local rural communities, including those in the constituency of the Ceann Comhairle, to bring them to important health, school and other engagements.

Recently, we proposed the rural transport network could have a vital role as part of the new Road Traffic Bill which, it appears, will proceed after Christmas. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cúiv, referred to the famous booze buses and that there should be a provision to help people get in and out of their homes and to avoid social isolation. In amendment No. 2 I have attempted to make provision for and to give a statutory basis to the rural transport network programme.

On 9 December next when the Minister is before the House and refers to the transport budget I trust we will not see the decimation of the €8.5 million allocation for this service. That would be a terrible error of Government and I urge it not make such a change. I seek a statutory basis for this local service. The ideal for communities in rural Ireland is to have the best possible local provision of public transport in every area of the country, a multitude of services linked up to larger providers, led by the national network of Bus Éireann. On Second Stage I remarked that people are entitled to a public transport service regardless of where they live. It should be our objective that access to a local public transport system be a basic right of citizenship for people from the Beara Peninsula to the Inishowen Peninsula. People took the initiative at local level, for which the Government has provided important funding since 2002, initially through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and latterly via the Department of Transport. It is critical that this service be maintained. Professor Colm McCarthy has urged that the funding for the service be removed but we are of the view that this would be a dreadful error.

Amendment No. 7 seeks to place the service on a statutory basis. If we do not take action in respect of the matter in this Bill, we will be obliged to return to it in the future in order to ensure that proper legislation relating to rural transport is put in place. I urge the Minister to accept amendments Nos. 2 and 7.

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