Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Amendment No. 37 refers to geographical areas. I addressed this issue on Committee Stage and in response to amendments Nos. 2, 6 and 7, so the Deputy will understand if I do not go back to it again. Amendment No. 38 refers to the accessibility of standards. We have had a fair amount of discussion on this. The important issue on such standards is that the authority may apply conditions to licences that are consistent with the national requirements as they evolve. That is exactly what section 13(2) achieves. It gives the flexibility to the authority to apply the standards as they evolve nationally, as the targets are set by Government and as final timescales come into play.

Amendment No. 39 was discussed at length with amendments Nos. 25, 26 and 28 to 30, inclusive. I have assured the Deputy in regard to the legislation on the road passenger operators' licences, and we will have that discussion at a later stage. I also made it clear that I agree with the concept the Deputy is pursuing. It is not a matter of a difference in opinion or principle. We are both of a mind in this regard but this is not the appropriate legislation for it.

Amendments Nos. 40 to 43, inclusive, provide for the insertion of a series of provisions to subsection (2), including to provide for automatic vehicle location, AVL. Many companies, whether public or private, will want this system at various stages and, given the development of intelligent transport systems, it will become more of a feature. However, imposing it as a requirement may be unnecessary in respect of many bus services and, for that reason, it would not be fair to impose it on every company for every service. For example, why would services that have no intermediate stopping points and which simply travel from one location to another need AVL? Accordingly, it would not be appropriate to apply a requirement for AVL in respect of all types of commercial bus services. However, there is nothing to prevent the authority imposing a condition in respect of AVL in circumstances where it deems it to be appropriate. Again, the Bill gives the authority power and discretion that it can use. It must also be recalled that the AVL system has not yet been rolled out in respect of the subvented bus services provided by Bus Éireann and Bus Átha Cliath, although it is being rolled out.

Amendment No. 43 would potentially require bus operators applying for licences to establish support infrastructure for the use of the proposed service. It is obviously in the interest of operators to have the necessary structures to support their operators but, again, it is not appropriate for the State or the authority to determine the requirements for such structures. The market will decide that in many respects. If a bus operator operates in particular areas which are not very comfortable for passengers, by the very nature of the competition that is involved, the operator will either provide the structures or will probably go out of business.

Amendments Nos. 41 and 42 deal with the minimum notice period for services to be revoked. This has to be seen against the fact that there has been virtually no history of operators revoking licences. Again, it is open to the authority to consider the need for such a provision if it considers that it might be of some practical use. It can do this if it decides it needs to have such a provision. It is not necessary to have it in legislation.

Where service is amended, the licence must also be amended in accordance with section 14, so it is obviously in the interest of the operator to give notice. In any event, it is expected that all details of licences will be available for the information of the public on the authority website. In light of that, it is not necessary to pursue amendment No. 42.

Amendments Nos. 45 and 46 seem to be based on the presumption that the authority does not have to approve amendments to the licence. That is not the case. All amendments to a licence will have to be approved by the authority under section 14. Where an operator has not complied with amendments which would not be in his or her interest because he or she would have proposed them in the first place, the operator is committing an offence. Section 14(4)(a) also clearly establishes that where the holder of a licence alters the public bus service to which the licence applies without obtaining an amended licence under this section, the licence holder is committing an offence.

With regard to amendment No. 46, section 14(3) makes it clear that the provisions of sections 10 to 13 will apply to applications under this section. As is the case with the proposed amendment No. 5 to section 10, this amendment appears to envisage that the authority would advertise applications for the amendment of bus licences and seek submissions from the public. Again, the same arguments that are used about commercial confidentiality and so on apply in this regard.

The series of amendments the Deputy proposes are catered for currently within the Bill and are not necessary. I ask the Deputy to withdraw them.

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