Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Question 3: To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport if he will clarify the expected cuts to Dublin Bus subvention rate after the next budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26925/11]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The funding of public service obligation, PSO, services is governed by public transport contracts between the National Transport Authority, NTA, and the three CIE subsidiaries. In 2011, Dublin Bus will receive, through the NTA, an estimated €72.4 million in Exchequer subvention.

Decisions on the overall level of subvention available for PSO services in 2012 will be made following the comprehensive review of expenditure currently being undertaken by Government. It is inevitable that, in the current fiscal environment, there will be a significant reduction in the level of subvention in 2012 and the following years. I support a continuation of the efforts by the company to improve its efficiency and reduce the costs of providing PSO services.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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In 2000, the then Department of Public Enterprise produced a report on subvention. Dublin was ranked third lowest by comparison with other cities in terms of what it received. Its percentage was 4% while that for Bergen in Norway was 1.5% and that for Belfast was 2%. In Belfast 98% of revenue came from fares and in Dublin 96% of revenue came from fares. Dublin is the biggest city in Ireland and is supposed to be competing with the modern cities in Europe, yet its subvention is one of the lowest in Europe. Other cities have modern railways, bus services and other transport services, yet Dublin Bus has experienced cuts in the order of €60 million to €70 million over recent years. There is talk of certain projects not going ahead, yet the subvention is being cut.

Buses will be key to transport in Dublin in the coming years. Some 120 buses are gone. This is not good enough and we must think outside the box. I cannot accept that we must accept the Troika's decisions in this regard such that we cannot invest in our bus and transport services. Investment is crucial because services are at full capacity at peak times and we cannot make further cuts. The next cuts will affect wages and staff. Does the Minister of State believe this will be the case?

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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There are no decisions made on the subvention that will be in place in the next few years. I have some sympathy with what the Deputy is saying about Dublin's subvention being one of the lowest in Europe. The Deloitte report on Dublin Bus showed it was a superbly run organisation. It offers a great service and has delivered for its customers. The Network Direct programme has proven to be very efficient. Noteworthy savings have been made in this regard. Given the economic circumstances, we have no choice but to re-examine this matter.

The percentage of subvention has not been defined but in the next few years other efficiencies will be achieved that I hope will help Dublin Bus. Many will be technology driven. We recently launched various technology tools that will help improve efficiency and increase the customer base. It is a question of doing this and then considering the cuts that will be necessary over the coming years. We are left in an unenviable position so we will have to achieve greater efficiencies. I am in favour of retaining as many services as possible.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Dublin Bus has already lost 120 buses and this has had an impact on efficiency. I had a meeting with Dublin Bus this morning about bus route Nos. 19 and 68. The cuts have had an impact and people are returning to their cars. The system is not efficient. We will face charges of up to €1 billion over the next five years under the Kyoto protocol if we do not honour the agreement, yet we are reducing the number of buses. Does the Minister of State not believe we should be retaining buses rather than reducing their number? If the next level of subvention will be such that there will be cuts to wages and staff, it will have an even greater impact. Does the Minister of State believe this will be the case?

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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We will try to retain the maximum number of services. In doing so, we will try to lower costs, drive more people onto the buses and create efficiencies so people will be more interested in using public transport. We will exploit every opportunity to encourage this and lessen the loss of services. Greater efficiencies are being achieved through Network Direct and there are greater interchanges. People are getting around more quickly than before. I have seen the reports myself and acknowledged the gains that have been made. Not everything is perfect but progress has been made. I am happy progress has been made. It is our intention to achieve what we must, unfortunately, achieve over the next two years but retain as many services as possible.