Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have outlined what will happen in regard to the contracts and the public service obligation, PSO, up to 2016 and then to 2019. There is a plan in place for up to 2019. The key message that needs to be brought out here is that at all times the National Transport Authority must act within the law. Both European law and the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 set down strict criteria under which the NTA must operate. Where the NTA proposes to enter into further direct award contracts for bus services, it is obliged to carry out statutory consultation under the Act. It has done that. Under the legislation, if the NTA proposes to enter into direct award contracts, it "may only do so where it is satisfied that the continued adequacy of the public bus passenger services to which the contracts relate can only be guaranteed in the general economic interest by entering into such direct award contracts". If it is not satisfied, it must provide for some level of competitive tendering. This is what is happening, but on a modest scale. There are no further plans to change what has been announced by the NTA in the past few months.

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