Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In the past ten years the population of this city has increased by more than 100,000, and the populations of counties Meath and Kildare and the area immediately outside Dublin have increased by another 100,000. Throughout that period, as the Taoiseach will be aware, the space given over to quality bus corridors has been quite limited, with a limited increase in the number of buses provided. Four county managers appeared before last week's meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and complained about the lack of space being allocated to quality bus corridors and the lack of buses in their areas.

Last Sunday the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, announced in his usual way that the Government was abandoning its policy of competition on bus routes. The Minister now seems happy for the hard-pressed commuters, who are central to the life of the city, to need to continue to rely on a single bus provider for transport to and from their localities. More important, as the Taoiseach is only too well aware, the outlying areas such as Tallaght, Edenmore, Raheny, and Poppintree, where the service is really not as it should be, are now really caught. The limited competition that has been provided has worked exceptionally well and those who use it are happy about it because it resulted in all public transport providers lifting their game, which is right and proper.

Why has the Government turned its back on what has been Government policy for ten years? What is so unique about Dublin Bus that commuters will need to continue to rely on a single bus provider in this city and its outlying areas? If competition has worked so well in airlines, why is it not applied in the case of buses, which would have the interests of the commuter at heart in terms of ease of access, convenience of travel and greater opportunities, allowing the life of the city to thrive?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government for the past ten years, as Deputy Kenny has said, has continued both to put in more buses — we have 1,100 more buses on the road — and we have continued on certain routes to allow additional licences for private operators. We are committed to seeing the further expansion and enhancement of public bus services. We want to see a top class service delivered to all citizens. As I said when talking about infrastructural issues during Question Time last Wednesday, we are wholeheartedly committed to getting best value for the travelling public and the taxpayer from significant subsidies being invested by the Exchequer in public bus services operated by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. In order to achieve this we have set out a number of priorities in the programme for government, which contains a commitment to expedite the establishment of the Dublin transport authority. Hopefully that legislation will be before us very soon. It will have the necessary powers to ensure the delivery of an integrated public transport system that was envisioned under Transport 21. These powers of the DTA will not be limited. They will help with a lot of the difficulties that managers have cited concerning corridors and infrastructural projects. That Bill will be before the House in the next few weeks.

The programme for Government also includes a commitment to improve bus services under Transport 21 by reforming the bus licensing provisions of the Transport Act 1932, and to facilitate the optimum provision of services by providing a level playing field for all market participants, both public and private. That is the Government's policy. Proposals for a new bus licensing regime will follow in subsequent legislative proposals. In the meantime, it will be business as usual for all private operators who wish to apply for a licence. There is no change under the present system whereby, as the Deputy said, there is more competition and many services have been enhanced. That position will continue.

In terms of the subvented bus market, which is supported by Exchequer moneys, the Dublin transport authority Bill will set out mechanisms for awarding contracts for this subvention taking into full account the new regime introduced under EU law, which comprises the new regulations of last October. They will become mandatory from the end of December 2009. In addition, the Department will shortly undertake a study of how Dublin Bus organises network planning capacity.

In conclusion, there is no change in the system that has been operating for the last ten years but there is a commitment to reform the legislative position under the Transport Act 1932 to ensure the provision of a level playing field for all market participants, both public and private, which is not there at present. Proposals for the new licensing regime will follow in subsequent legislative proposals. Deputy Kenny thought we were rowing back from what is currently there but we are not doing so.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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We want to go forward.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach is not sure which way it is going.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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We will amend the Transport Act 1932 in line with the Dublin transport authority Bill. The Deputy is obviously very happy with what is there at the moment but we are not so happy with it.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach should do something about it.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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We will do that with the Opposition's wholehearted support. Therefore the Dublin transport authority Bill will be coming before the House, while the proposed amendment of the 1932 legislation is also under discussion.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach is quite prepared to say anything and hopes to get away with it. He mentioned rowing back and forth but the point is that he has completely abandoned ship. Whoever wrote that answer for him was very selective in the choice of phrases chosen from the programme for Government. First, there are approximately 1,100 buses in total in Dublin, not 1,100 new buses. Second, the Taoiseach is right in saying there is no change — that is why people must wait two years for a licensing decision. Third, the most important and fundamental element of the Dublin transport authority was to regulate competition, yet there will be no such competition now. The ship has been completely abandoned.

I remind the Taoiseach of what is in his programme for Government. The author of the Taoiseach's reply did not say the programme for Government is to "deliver real commuting choice" and specifically to reform bus licensing to facilitate the optimum provision of services by providing a level playing pitch for all market participants. That has been abandoned. In his announcement on Sunday, the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, said we would just have a single provider, with Dublin Bus doing the business from Popintree right around the whole perimeter of the city with a first-class service.

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy should not believe everything he reads. That is his problem. I did not make any such statement.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The programme for Government has clearly abandoned the element of competition, which has been so good in so many other areas. Uniquely in the bus service, however, it will be left to one provider alone. Have we got to a stage where the issue of commuter policy is much more important for the provider than for the consumer? Why has this change of heart by the Minister, on behalf of the Government, occurred?

Ten quality bus corridors are currently operating, while another ten are under construction and a further 39 are in the pipeline. The Minister says the Dublin transport authority will be on stream fairly soon, but the competition element has been abandoned and future legislation will deal with all of this. Meanwhile, there are three or four weeks left in this session, following which we will have a relatively short period before the summer recess and the Government will be away again. Has the entire Cabinet given its approval to this change of heart announced by the Minister last Sunday?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Three points have been raised and I will try not to confuse what is a simple issue. The Dublin transport authority Bill will be before the House shortly. The Bill is almost ready and will deal with a number of important things including responsibility for the allocation of Exchequer funds, which will give the DTA power to ensure the delivery of priority transport projects. It will have power to contract out services, which will allow for the integration of services and infrastructure, ensuring that bus services are effectively integrated with the metro on its completion. It will have responsibility to deliver public transport infrastructural projects through existing agencies but, should it consider it more efficient and expeditious to do so, it can deliver a project itself. It will have power of direction to ensure delivery of integrated ticketing, passenger information and fares. That Bill is almost ready and will be published shortly.

As regards Deputy Kenny's second point, both he and I have quoted from the programme for Government, which includes a commitment to improve services under Transport 21 by reforming the bus licensing provisions of the Transport Act 1932. The Act is over 75 years old and is generally considered not to be suitable. We stated we would reform that legislation to facilitate the optimum provision of services by providing a level playing field for all market participants, both public and private. That is what the Minister stated the other day and he did not state anything else.

Proposals for that new bus licensing regime will follow in subsequent legislative proposals. In the meantime, it will be business as usual for all private operators who wish to apply to the Department of Transport for a licence under the 1932 Act until it is amended. The Minister said it would be open to all market participants, both public and private. If any private operator can show and prove that it can improve and enhance the services Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann consider they can do in many instances, it will not be ruled out. Similarly, if the public sector has a view on how it can enhance the service, it should not be automatically ruled out just for the consideration of the private speculative market. That is not what happens at present, so Dublin Bus should be entitled to put its views forward. Those matters will be dealt with in the amendment to the 1932 Act. Up to now, as the Deputy said, people who have a suggestion for a licence are quite liberally dealt with; they can put their case to the Department and seek a licence. That system is working on many routes and has been extended on many routes over the last few years. That is all the Minister stated, so I do not see any issue in that regard.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Does the Minister have the backing of the Cabinet?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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This week The Irish Times published figures it had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which show that prisoners have tested positive for drugs in our prisons some 40,000 times over the past three years. That has occurred in a prison population of 3,200. We are told that in some prisons 75% of the tests carried out have proved positive. In 25,000 of the 40,000 cases we are talking about opiates, including heroin. There is clearly a major drugs problem in our prisons but it is not a new problem from the Government's point of view.

In 1997, the programme for Government published by the Taoiseach and his colleagues stated:

We will establish a custodial detention centre for convicted drug addicts and remand prisoners who are addicted, with all other prisons to be drug free.

Having failed to deliver on this commitment, the Taoiseach and his colleagues had another go at it in the programme for Government in 2002, which stated: "By the end of 2002, we will publish a plan to completely end all heroin use in Irish prisons." Having failed for a second time, there was another attempt in the 2007 programme for Government, which gave a commitment to "extend measures to make prisons drugs free".

The Government, over an 11-year period, has promised to make prisons drugs free but what it has delivered is prisons where drugs are freely available. By any standards, its drugs-free policy for prisons has been a failure. Will the Taoiseach explain how so many drugs are getting into prisons in the first place? If the State cannot keep drugs out of prisons, what hope is there of keeping drugs out of our communities? If drugs are available in such quantities in what are supposed to be safe places of detention, how on earth will we keep them out of places of entertainment? How does the Taoiseach respond to a sceptical member of the public who must wonder, given the quantity of drugs in prisons and the numbers of prisoners testing positive for drug use, whether there is not some type of unofficial policy of keeping prisoners drugged and perhaps quietened rather than addressing the use of drugs and access to drugs in prisons?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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In regard to the figures published yesterday, many of the tests referred to were carried out on prisoners who had just been committed and relate to drug use prior to imprisonment. That should be highlighted.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The prison staff must have been up all night testing prisoners.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will explain. It is only since last October that prison staff have the power to carry out random mandatory drug tests on prisoners. This was not previously available and drug testing was, therefore, primarily targeted at those prisoners suspected of taking drugs or who had a known history of drug misuse. The figures should not be taken as an indicator of drug misuse across the wider prison population.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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The figure is 75%.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The figures are not representative of all prisoners.

Some 500 prisoners are on supervised methadone maintenance programmes at any one time. These prisoners are initially tested at least twice weekly and tend to be tested in any case, even if they have been in prison for some time, at least once a week. This amounts to some 30,000 tests. Thus, the figures include the tests that take place on people who are on supervised methadone treatment.

This is not to say there is no problem. I do not wish to downplay it. However, in interpreting the figures, one must allow for these issues. There is a range of other issues involved in this testing that would not be included. There is a drug problem in many of the areas from which prisoners come. It is obvious and inevitable that this will have a knock-on effect in prisons in some cases. We must deal with that problem.

An elaborate set of security measures has been put in place to deal with the situation. The drug testing of prisoners began formally last October and it takes place in four circumstances: where requested by the courts in regard to pending proceedings; where prisoners are in drug-free units, institutions or open centres; where prisoners are participating in methadone maintenance programmes; and for management and operational reasons. These are the four categories under which prisoners are tested.

The Prison Service policy for keeping drugs out of prisons was launched just under two years ago. This involved the establishment of an external monitoring group which meets regularly to monitor implementation of that strategy. It has set out several steps that are required to get to a position where there will be no drugs in prisons, to provide adequate treatment for those addicted to drugs and to ensure that developments in prisons are linked into the community. This policy involves a multifaceted approach to tackling the problems associated with substance abuse. There is a particular focus on the need to assist prisoners who indicate a serious desire to tackle their drug problem. The methadone treatment programme is one such method of assistance.

Specific developments in the area of drug treatment include the provision of 24 addiction counsellors to cover all prisons, the contract for which was awarded to Merchant's Quay last year. Additional nurse officers have been allocated to dedicated drug treatment teams in prisons. A consultant psychiatrist in addiction and registrar of prisons have been appointed to provide counselling sessions and resources have been allocated to improve the quality, co-ordination and availability of drug treatment programmes. The previous position was that little addiction counselling was available in prisons. We were working on the basis that we had security and that there were no drugs in prisons. This was not a sustainable policy given that we all knew there were. We now have a dedicated staff of addiction counsellors, nurses and consultant psychiatrists to assist prisoners and treat those who are genuinely trying to beat the habit.

To eliminate the availability of drugs, we have introduced tough security measures. This is the other side of the issue. We must take the carrot and stick approach. Not everybody wants to accept treatment and partake in rehabilitation. Modern cameras and probe systems are being used to assist in searching for drugs. Security detectors are being used to search persons entering prisons. The security in place is the same as that employed at airports and is thus at a very high level. Previously it involved only random checks.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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No matter how one interprets the Taoiseach's answer, we are a long way from the drug-free prisons he promised us 11 years ago, promised for a second time six years ago and then promised us again last year. It seems the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and his Department are not on top of the situation. For example, my colleague, Deputy Tuffy, asked a question of the Minister earlier this month about the quantity and value of drugs seized in prisons in the last five years. The Minister replied:

An accurate breakdown of statistics as requested by the Deputy is not available without the manual examination of records going back over a considerable time period.

The Minister further stated that such an examination "would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time". In other words, the Department does not know the quantity and value of drugs seized in prisons in the last five years.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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It is not much.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Taoiseach spoke about everything from nurses and consultant psychiatrists to airport security being introduced in prisons to address the problem. Will he consider allowing prison officers to arrest a person bringing drugs into prison? We have an absurd situation where a prison officer cannot arrest a visitor who is discovered bringing in drugs for a prisoner. Unless gardaí are available or come quickly enough, these people must be released. I suggest this as a start to tackling the problem of large quantities of drugs being brought into prisons on a regular basis.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the last point, I understand there were industrial relations difficulties which have since been ironed out. Prison officers are now co-operating with the new security arrangements. I assume I am referring to the same issue as that raised by the Deputy. If not, I will check that for him.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Prison officers do not have the power of arrest. They cannot detain visitors bringing drugs into prisons.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am not sure of the legal consequences of that. There was a difficulty with prisons officers operating the new security arrangements. I understand that was an industrial relations issue which has since been resolved.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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That has nothing to do with it. The Taoiseach is blaming the prison officers, which is unfair.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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What is the Deputy talking about? Nobody is blaming anyone.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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It is unfair. The Taoiseach should look nearer to home.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I mentioned an industrial relations issue that has been ironed out. I gave the list of the preventative issues that are taking place. In fairness, 500 of this country's 3,000 prisoners are on methadone treatment. They are being tested. One cannot move to any of the open-end prisons without having been tested and found to be drug free. Substantial moves are being made in that area.

We also need to focus on the security area, which is the other side of it, as part of the carrot and stick approach. We are providing for mandatory drug testing and studying trends of drug misuse. Prisons are using dogs to do searches on a daily basis. More than 30 people are directly involved in that in our prisons. Prisons are using security screens like those used in airports to check if people coming in and out are carrying drugs. Let us be honest, many of those who visit prisoners use imaginative and hard to detect ways of carrying drugs in and out of prisons. The only way to counteract such behaviour is to use sophisticated technology. Prisons are taking many other measures in respect of staffing and visitors etc. We would have said a few years ago that such methods were not needed in prisons. That is one side of it. The other side is to try to help prisoners to break the habit by giving them a chance to do so while they are in prison. They should be able to avail of the advice of those who can assist them, such as addiction counsellors and consultant psychiatrists. We can use heavy-handed security measures on those who choose not to look for help. Both of those approaches are in operation. I am not saying there is no difficulty. A section of the prison population and a section of those who visit prisoners go to extraordinary lengths to bring drugs into our prisons.