Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator O'Malley for raising the matter. On behalf of Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, I am glad of the opportunity to outline to the House the arrangements planned to upgrade bus services in the Dublin area.

Bus services are and will remain the predominant mode of public transport in the Dublin area. More than 147 million passengers were carried by bus in the greater Dublin area in 2007, while 28.4 million were carried on Luas and over 20 million on the DART. The challenge now is to decide how best, building on the achievements to date and in the context of legislative reform, we can ensure that the optimal arrangements are in place for the planning and delivery of bus services in the greater Dublin area with a view to achieving further expansion and enhancement of public bus services.

A number of priorities have been identified in the Agreed Programme for Government in this area. The programme contains a commitment to expedite the establishment of a Dublin transport authority, which will have the necessary powers to ensure the delivery of the integrated public transport system envisioned under Transport 21. The Senator will be aware that the Dublin Transport Authority Bill has been discussed in this House and is currently before the Dáil. Hopefully, it will be completed by the summer recess.

The Bill establishes a comprehensive framework which will give the new Dublin transport authority the power to procure public passenger transport services through the making of public service transport contracts. Section 48 of the Bill envisages that the DTA may enter into contracts following open tendering in respect of public bus passenger services, as well as metro and light rail services. It also provides that public bus and rail services can be secured by means of direct award contracts. However, section 52 provides that direct award contracts will only apply to the continued provision of the services currently being provided by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

Accordingly, the future growth in the market for subvented public bus services will be pursued by way of open tendering in accordance with the new EU Regulation 1370/2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road. All contracts will be framed against the background of EU law, will set strict standards of operational performance and customer service and will contain penalties for non-performance.

The provisions of the Bill seek to maintain a balance between the need for transport services, including bus passenger transport services, that are the subject of a public service obligation and the licensing of private transport operators who provide commercial bus transport services and are licensed under the provisions of the Road Transport Act 1932. It will be a matter for the DTA to procure the provision of public transport services and in so doing to determine whether or not a public service obligation should be applied in respect of particular services.

The programme for Government includes a commitment to improving bus services under Transport 21 by reforming the bus licensing provisions of the Road Transport Act 1932, to facilitate the optimum provision of services by providing a level playing field for all market participants, both public and private. It is the Minister's intention that proposals for a new bus licensing regime will follow the Dublin Transport Authority Bill in subsequent legislative proposals to be contained in a public transport regulation Bill. The new Bill will deal with the replacement of the Road Transport Act 1932 and the provisions of the Transport Act 1958 that relate to the provision of bus services by the State bus companies. The new bus licensing regime will be designed in a manner consistent with the new EU PSO regulation. It is envisaged that the new licensing structure will apply in respect of all commercial bus services, including those provided by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, and that the powers to grant licences in the greater Dublin area will be given to the Dublin transport authority. Pending regulatory reform, the Department of Transport continues to licence applications from private bus operators within the Dublin region, as per the old legislation.

The Minister is confident that the Dublin Transport Authority Bill when enacted will facilitate an important initial step in the reform of the bus market in the greater Dublin area to the benefit of both public and private operators and, of even more importance, in the interests of the travelling public in general. This will be followed in due course by the next phase of the bus reform programme in the public transport regulation Bill. That is basically what Department officials have been doing. They have been working on the Dublin Transport Authority Bill, which will soon be enacted. As soon as it is, full attention will be given to reform of the 1932 Act.

What happened last week regarding Circle Line was unfortunate. Mr. Morton has made a number of allegations. It is not the first time he has made them. There have been numerous complaints to the Department, which were relayed to Dublin Bus. Dublin Bus would deny the allegations and it is not for me to adjudicate on how much validity was in the complaints. Circle Line believes that Dublin Bus put many services on the routes where it was unnecessary. However, the city is developing and evolving and it is difficult to be a Solomon on some of these issues. When the Dublin Transport Authority Bill is passed and the new legislation is introduced, reforming the 1932 Act — about which we have been talking for decades — this will provide for new services into the future over and above any expansion of bus services in the city.

The bus will be very important in the city in the future, particularly when the construction works on the metro and interconnector lines are under way. In the event the bus will be king for a certain length of time, because there may not be room for everyone on the road. Bus services are and will remain very important to the city. The passing of these two Bills will hopefully mean the problems that arose last week will be a thing of the past.