Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy will recall, we discussed this issue at great length on Committee Stage when I set out in detail the reasons I could not accept the proposed approach. The major reason remains the issue of commercial confidentiality for proposals to provide commercial bus services. A great deal of commercial detail must be presented to the authority when it is considering bus licences. It is generally accepted that when one is trying to operate on a commercial basis it is not in anyone's interest that commercial information be made publicly available.

One of the themes to emerge in both Houses on more than one occasion during the passage of the Bill has been the need to ensure licensing decisions are taken quickly. Representatives of the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland emphasised to me at a recent meeting that the Bill must provide for speedy decisions. When a company applies for a licence it should expect the decision to be taken quickly. Acceptance of the proposal would make the licensing process slow and tedious.

As I noted previously, a third problem would arise if the amendment were accepted. To take the planning process as an example, if a developer with an interest in a town becomes aware that an application has been made for permission to construct a shopping centre in another part of the town, he will lodge an objection to prevent the project from proceeding, even though he may not intend to proceed with his own development for many years. This course of action delays the process. I have no doubt, having observed such cases under the current regime, that existing operators, should they become aware that another operator has applied for a licence, would alert members of the public and put forward their own case. It is for this reason that I do not favour adopting the approach proposed by Deputy Broughan.

I accept the Deputy's point on the need to ensure customers have a say and role. Section 10(2) provides that the authority can seek any information from any source it wishes to assist in its consideration of applications. This provision, allied to the current practice whereby an existing operator on a proposed route is given prior notice of the consideration of an application, provides an adequate basis for the authority to have views that are relevant to particular applications.

Deputy Broughan's comments related primarily to discussions on a company's decisions to withdraw from a route rather than applications for a licence. On the basis that consultation is provided for, I ask the Deputy to withdraw the amendment.

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