Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator O'Malley for sharing time and I welcome the Minister. I broadly accept the thrust and principle of the legislation, which is forward thinking. I appreciate the Minister's effort in bringing it forward at this time.

I come from a rural area and I urge him to be kind to the rural transport system. While it is not covered directly by the legislation, the rural transport scheme would be a significant loss to rural Ireland it if were abolished on foot of the bord snip report. The scheme works extremely well in west Cork where I live.

Will the proposed national transport authority have control over metro north? As a tourist destination, Ireland should have had an integrated ticketing system before now and I welcome the provisions in this regard. I hope the Minister will fast track it.

How does he propose to deal with land acquisition for the underground link between Dublin Airport and the city centre? What are the proposals? Bord Gais built a pipeline between Kinsale and Dublin. When the Joint Committee on the Constitution examined property rights, legislation was proposed. The concept is one owns one's property from the sky to the core of the earth. Undergrounding has legal implications where land acquisition is concerned. Dr. Gerard Hogan, who advised the committee, believes it is possible under the Constitution to legislate that property rights would only cover the first 10 metres underground, for example, and that would allow for the fast tracking proposals for underground works. If one had to deal with every householder between St. Stephen's Green and the airport in the context of the underground metro, it would be a logistical nightmare. The Minister and his officials will be aware of this issue but it was an interesting proposal and the representatives of many transport providers were before the committee to participate in that debate on property rights. The committee's report might be worth considering in that regard.

I thank the Minister for bringing the Bill forward. Will the national transport authority have control over transport nationally or just in the greater Dublin area, GDA? On the basis of the documents I have read, it will primarily deal with the GDA but in the development of policy its remit should extend nationwide. 1 o'clock

A number of bus routes in west Cork are inefficient. Almost nobody uses one route which operates only on a Saturday and I raised this issue with CIE in Cork. The bus was rerouted and people still did not use the service. It is a 42-seater bus which uses particularly bad roads. Something like a small minibus would be much more efficient. There are probably several such routes and the situation should be examined.