Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I acknowledge some of the successes of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in his time in office. There are those who take a less constructive approach to opposition, but it is appropriate that we recognise that there are areas in which he has had success. In particular, I commend him for the approach he has taken to road safety. Notwithstanding the difficulties experienced last year when there was an increase in the number of road deaths, I do not believe that was his responsibility but rather the responsibility of the Minister for Justice and Equality owing to his failure to recognise the comments of the chairman of the Road Safety Authority and others who believed the level of enforcement had fallen in line with the reduction in the number of gardaí and their inability to police the laws pertaining to the use of the roads to the extent that they would have liked.

I also give the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, credit for the approach he took to The Gathering. The concept was in gestation when he took office and he worked effectively with it. He succeeded in taking it to the level that had been envisaged and credit is due to him in that regard. Of course, there are potential downfalls, of which he will be aware. I have heard him talk about the difficulties recognised in Scotland when it sought to introduce a similar scheme, referred to as the Homecoming, and the inability to retain the same level of activity the following year when there was a fall-off in the number of visits. The Minister has experienced success in the retention of the 9% VAT rate which has been helpful to the tourism sector generally.

I am disappointed that the Lord Mayor of Dublin has spoken about the St. Patrick's Day Festival as being soulless. He should keep such comments to himself or commit himself to being part of a strategy aimed at changing the way in which the festival is organised. It was unfortunate and unhelpful for the mayor to make these comments and I encourage him to engage with the Minister and the various persons involved in the committee because the St. Patrick's Day parade and other events present a significant opportunity to sell Ireland abroad and encourage visitors to come here.

Where the Minister has not been as successful has been in dealing with the pensions dispute at the State airports and in Aer Lingus. That Irish airline superannuation scheme has been on the burner for some time and the dispute now has the potential to derail the efforts the Government and the tourism sector are making by creating a level of uncertainty in the minds of the travelling public. As the Minister will be aware, the threat of strike action can act as a deterrent. People make decisions at this time of the year as to where they will take their vacations. In the American market, in particular, they plan ahead. They only have their nine or ten days holidays and do not want to get caught up in anything that involves a risk for them. For that reason, I am concerned that the threat of strike or industrial action has the potential to damage the tourism sector. While I welcome the panel the Minister has announced to try to break the impasse, it was an intervention that came too late. Unfortunately, to some extent, the situation has been allowed to get out of control. I hope there will be a resolution at the end of the period the Minister has set for the panel to achieve success.

On public transport, the Government has allowed fares to increase year on year, making the public transport system more expensive for the everyday commuter. I understand the Minister's difficulty in not having the funding required to support the public transport network, but it is incumbent on the Government to set out its strategy for the kind of network it wants. Notwithstanding the dispute or difference in ideology between the Labour Party and Fine Gael about private involvement in the public transport system, public transport is already expensive when compared to fares charged and services provided elsewhere. The Government fails to recognise the economic madness of increasing fares, while expecting increased passenger numbers. This does not work in any other sector and it is unlikely to be successful in this one. There have been some welcome improvements such as the introduction of the passenger real-time information system provided by the NTA, but radical action is needed to transform the public transport system into one in which services will be more frequent, cost effective and reliable. Such action has not yet been taken. The ideological conflict to which I referred between the two Government parties is of concern in this regard. Not enough work has been done by the Government and the NTA in looking at the roll-out of a bus rapid transit, BRT, system as a methodology to improve the public transport service at a time when one does not have the required resources to move to light rail. It is a good system and would be a good interim measure with real potential.

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