Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is quite incorrect. I am surprised to hear him state that we have a very poor public transport service. This is not true. We may have a somewhat lesser service than we had but we certainly do not have a very poor service.

With regard to the number of buses, I made it very clear from the very start of my term as Minister for Transport that I would not measure success by the number of buses but by how effectively and efficiently they were organised. If I had listened to advice from across the floor of the House in 2007 when I became Minister for Transport I would have purchased another 300 buses at huge cost to the taxpayer - approximately €200,000 apiece - and those buses would not be used now. We are doing precisely what the Government wants in getting more from less, ensuing that the buses in the fleet we have are properly streamlined and serve the needs of customers. The Deloitte report emphasised this and the changes being introduced will further emphasise the quality of the service rather than the quantity of buses. It is possible, with the changes that Deloitte proposed which the Deputy opposite has supported, to provide an even better service with fewer buses, as I outlined in my answer.

See this speech in context