Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the issue of public transport services, particularly bus services, in the greater Dublin area, but it is unfortunate the Minister for Transport and Marine is not in the House to respond. I raise these issues in the context of significant under provision of public transport generally within the area.

We know it makes sense for all kinds of reasons — economic, social and environmental — to encourage and facilitate as many people as possible to use public transport. In the past, the need was to convince people of that argument, but now they fully accept it. The issue now is the Government's inability to provide adequate public transport to meet the demand. It is clear from the length of bus queues during the morning and evening peaks and the cramming of people into buses, trains, the DART and the Luas that the demand far outstrips supply. This is the challenge for the Government, but it has failed in this regard in recent years.

Late last year the Government finally allowed Dublin Bus to acquire the 100 additional buses that had been promised for years. To date, only 40 of these have been put into service, leaving 60 brand new buses idle in garages around the city while people stand in queues waiting for buses to get them into or home from work. This makes no sense. This morning the Taoiseach said the reason was that there were not enough drivers. This is not true. Dublin Bus has been recruiting drivers for the past six months and has many new drivers ready and able to take up employment. Unfortunately, Dublin Bus has not received the necessary approval from the Department to deploy the buses on the routes on which they are needed. Dublin Bus proposes to introduce new routes, the 141 to serve the huge conurbation of Swords and the 128 for the north fringe and the housing development there. People are demanding these services and Dublin Bus is ready to provide them but is precluded from doing so because the Department will not provide the necessary approval. It claims it has received requests from private operators, but there seems to be a serious ideological hang-up or log-jam in the system. As long as an application from a private operator is under consideration the public bus company is not allowed to provide new services. That does not make sense. Those applications could be under consideration for nine or ten months or even longer because of the inefficient system in the Department. Meanwhile people are left without services.

Dublin Bus wants to use the Dublin Port Tunnel as a fast route into the city centre. It has started to do this recently for the 41X bus, an express bus running from the Swords area into the city centre every morning. Six buses operate on the route. A total of 25 minutes could be cut off the journey time if the buses used the Dublin Port Tunnel. As the buses are full by the time they reach Whitehall where they hit the traffic jams, they would not bypass passengers. As express buses they should have a direct route into the city centre.

The route has been provided at taxpayers' expense in the form of the Dublin Port Tunnel. It is a fast, direct route and it makes sense for Dublin Bus to use it but because a private operator has submitted a request the Department of Transport and Marine will not allow Dublin Bus to do the sensible and rational thing. I appeal to the Minister of State to give the message clearly to the Minister for Transport and Marine that people in Dublin cannot afford to wait any longer for decent bus services. The buses and the drivers are in place. They await only approval from the Department of Transport and Marine. I urge the Minister to do the sensible thing, give those approvals and provide people with the service to which they are entitled.

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his appointment and wish him every success.

In September 2006, Exchequer funding of €30 million was announced towards the cost of 100 additional buses for Dublin Bus. Dublin Bus took delivery of these buses in 2006. These additional buses enable Dublin Bus to expand the number and frequency of services throughout its network to the benefit of customers across the Dublin Bus network. As a result up to 8 million additional passengers are expected to be carried each year.

The deployment of these buses across the network is an operational matter for the company. Since the arrival of the new buses, the company has commissioned and introduced 42 into service in areas such as North Wicklow, Tyrrelstown and Finglas, Skerries, Portmarnock and Malahide.

Dublin Bus has informed the Minister for Transport and Marine that the balance of the new buses will be commissioned and in operation in time for the peak period from September next when demand is greatest. Areas to benefit in the coming months include the Merrion Road quality bus corridor, the Ballymun quality bus corridor, Blanchardstown, Finglas, Meakstown etc.

The only area where Dublin Bus has been advised it is not in a position to proceed with a new service is the route 141 from Swords to the city centre via Drumcondra. This is because the company must await a decision on a prior application from a private bus operator for a licence for bus services along the route. In the past year, the Department of Transport and Marine has received a total of 76 notifications from Dublin Bus to initiate or amend services. Of these 56 were noted and therefore authorised, three were withdrawn by the company, two were advised they would require section 25 applications, three have been deferred due to a prior application from a private operator and one service has been part approved and is now in operation. The Department, however, has deferred a decision on some bus stop elements of that proposal and 11 notifications have been received in the past three months and are being processed in the normal way in respect of other routes across the city. As can be seen from this data, most Dublin Bus service changes have been approved.

Since January 2001, Dublin Bus is required to give at least four weeks' advance notice to the Department of Transport and Marine about proposals to initiate new services or to alter its existing bus services. The purpose of this procedure is to ensure a level playing field between Dublin Bus and private operators in the authorisation of service changes. Dublin Bus is also subject to compliance with the requirement of the provisions of section 25 of the Transport Act 1958 concerning competition with licensed private operators.

There is no delay in clearing Dublin Bus notifications where there is no conflict. However, where the proposed service change is judged likely to compete with an existing licence, the application may be refused or a decision deferred until the prior application has been finalised. In accordance with standard regulatory procedures, the prior application from the private bus operator, made under the provisions of the Road Transport Act 1932, as amended, has to be considered first. Once the licence application has been processed, the Department of Transport and the Marine either clears the notification or Dublin Bus is asked to review its proposals in the light of the licence issued to the private operator for the route in question. Under section 25 of the Transport Act 1958, Dublin Bus also has the option to seek the Minister's consent for the initiation or amendment of services operated so as to compete with a licensed passenger road service. These procedures are adopted in the interest of an orderly approach to the regulation of the bus market and considered to be of benefit to Dublin Bus, private bus operators and the consumer.

The use of the Dublin Port tunnel by Dublin Bus on a regular basis for its services is subject to the company complying with the requirement to give formal notification to the Department of Transport and the Marine. So far, the company has only formally notified the Department of its wish to use of the port tunnel for three of its services. Approval has been given, without delay, for two of these services and Dublin Bus is now operating routes 33X and 142 through the tunnel.

The third proposal from Dublin Bus for use of the Dublin Port tunnel is for changes to four of the existing services on the 41X route and no extra services have been sought which would require the deployment of extra buses. Dublin Bus has been informed that a decision on the proposed 41X changes has been deferred because the Department of Transport and the Marine has a prior application from a private operator to provide a commercial express bus service, without State subvention, from Swords to the city centre, via the port tunnel. Deliberations on this application are at an advanced stage.