Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

On 19 June 2008, my Department was advised by the Circle Line company that it was going into voluntary liquidation and that bus services it was providing to and from Celbridge and Lucan, which were the subject of licences issued under the Road Transport Act 1932, would cease to operate from Friday, 27 June 2008. I very much regret the loss of employment and the loss of the significant level of services to which the licences related. This incident highlights what has been stated since the Minister for Transport took up office, which is the bus licensing regime needsto be overhauled. This underlines why we brought the Dublin Transport Authority Bill, currently in its final Stages, to the Houses of the Oireachtas. This was passed by the Seanad recently.

The next stage in this reform process is legislation to amend the Road Transport Act 1932 which provides the statutory basis for regulating the provision of public bus services by private bus operators. I envisage that the new licensing regime will apply in respect of all commercial bus services, including those provided by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. The new Bill will also encompass provisions relating to the subvented bus market outside the greater Dublin area that are consistent with the new EU public service obligation regulation. I understand from Dublin Bus that there are approximately 217 services daily between the Lucan area and the city centre, of which 39 also serve the Celbridge area. I am also informed that there are approximately 190 outbound services from the city centre serving the Lucan area throughout the day.

It is open to Dublin Bus or any other operator to submit proposals to my Department in respect of new bus services from the areas in question. Last Friday, Dublin Bus made an application seeking authorisation to provide a small number of morning services from Celbridge and Lucan. Subsequently the application was revised by the company and resubmitted to the Department yesterday. The application is being given urgent consideration by the Department. We must wait and see what happens. Previously, there was a complaint that there were too many buses on the route. However, if extra buses are required, it is the intention to deal with the application quickly.