Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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60. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to privatise certain public transport routes; how this will improve services to commuters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41062/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The question relates to the future provision of public service obligation, PSO, bus services. The objective of the Government is to ensure a system of public transport throughout the country that is as efficient and as widespread as possible. The award of PSO contracts for the bus market falls under the remit of the National Transport Authority, NTA, which is currently considering how publicly subvented bus services can best be provided in the future. The direct award contracts for the provision of PSO bus market services held by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann expire late next year.  The awarding of licences for the services thereafter is a matter for the NTA and not for the Government, but I have kept the Cabinet updated on the process.

Where the NTA proposes to enter into a further direct award contract or contracts for bus services, it is obliged to carry out a statutory consultation under section 52 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008.  Under the legislation, if the NTA proposes to enter into direct award contracts, the relevant section states "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 so satisfied, it must provide for some level of competitive tendering.  As I have explained, this is not a decision for the Government or for me.

The NTA is conducting its work in accordance with the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008. Statutory consultations relating to the matter commenced on 11 September and will conclude on 11 October. The NTA expects to announce its decision on how it intends to proceed before the end of the year. It should be noted that it will be open to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to to bid for any routes or bundles of routes tendered. I envisage that tendering will enable the selection of the most competent tenderer, which can provide the public with the best service at the least cost to the taxpayer.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The most obvious question is whether this is the beginning of the privatisation of public transport in the State. The Minister is on record as showing some level of favour towards that particular process. I remind the Minister that during the course of a recent and ongoing dispute between Dublin Bus workers and management, a Labour Party Minister indicated that the announcement by the NTA was "unhelpful", although one might wonder why it would have been unhelpful at the time. Was it that there is an agreement within the Government that it intends to privatise public transport services on a wider scale but it wanted to resolve the issues at Dublin Bus first?

Has the Minister any concerns about the quality of service to be delivered? He is familiar with the privatisation of public transport services in other EU member states that have not gone terribly satisfactorily, from the perspective of either passengers or the states involved, because of cost. Will the Minister address those issues?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Lest there be any confusion, I should be clear that there is no proposal whatever to privatise Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus or Irish Rail. That is not on the agenda of the Government at all. There is already plenty of public transport provided by private companies across the State; for example, Transdev operates the Luas system very successfully and will serve 30 million passengers this year alone. There is also the likes of Aircoach, Matthews, Wexford Bus and many others. It is already the case that private sector companies provide public transport.

The NTA considered all kinds of model from around the world. In some cities they work well and in others they do not. We will certainly not go down the route followed outside of London in the UK, where depots and entire bus services were sold. That is not what is envisaged at all. Any tendering that may occur - although it cannot occur for a number of years - would be open to Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann or any other company and the contract would only go to the tenderer that could provide the best service. It is not necessarily about saving money but providing a potentially better service for people at the same price to the taxpayer.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is aware that allegations are being made about the inability of transport regulators to govern the way in which employees in private companies would be treated by way of wage agreements or the way in which they are expected to work. It is the case in other jurisdictions that where there is a drive towards profit by private companies that win contracts, there has been a deterioration in the level of service provided to the consumer. The long-term negative impact on public transport has proved extremely costly, as there had to be investment to encourage people to return to using public transport. There is deep concern that we could end up with a negative outcome from any tinkering with the current system.

It can have a knock-on effect on passenger confidence in the service and, ultimately, lead to a modal shift away from public transport, which would be damaging and regressive. I hope, therefore, that plans the Minister and the NTA have in this regard are properly scrutinised in advance to ensure we do not damage or undermine the high rate of participation and usage by consumers in public transport services.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Like many of these measures, if they are done right, they can work well, but if they are done badly, they can be a fiasco. The NTA's job is to make sure the tendering happens in an orderly and successful manner. It is not a secret to the Deputy that my party proposed that we tender for all services when the contracts end in 2014. That will not happen because this is a coalition Government, not a Fine Gael Government. What the NTA is proposing is minimalist. It is only 10% and two years away. If it was down to me, there would probably be much more happening, but there is not. That is the reality. The NTA is implementing legislation put through the Dáil by my predecessor, Mr. Noel Dempsey, for which the Deputy may even have voted.