Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The difference between "contract" and "licence" in this Bill is that in the case of a contract, there is a public service obligation; in other words it is a loss-making service. A licence applies to commercial services, which is an important distinction in the 2008 Bill and continues in this one. I understand the point being made by Senator Cannon, which is slightly different and perhaps more pertinent to different legislation.

In response to the original point made by Senator Quinn, I should have made it clear that this is one of a number of pieces of legislation which will be brought forward by the Minister for Transport. In some cases, elements mentioned by the Senator are more appropriate to the other legislation.

It is important to point out that the road transport operator licence applies to all operators, both public and private, and that is an important element of the Bill. Contracts of five years are being negotiated and issues regarding contracts are somewhat different. This relates to some extent to amendments Nos. 1 and 12. With regard to this amendment, the contract regime applies to the public service obligation and the licensing regime applies to the licence for a service which is commercial.

The primary focus of this Bill is to establish a modern system for the licensing of commercial and public bus passenger services. The sections in Part 2 of the Bill set out the parameters to support the new framework. Section 6 provides that national bus passenger services other than those provided subject to public transport services contracts or an international service may only be provided under a licence granted under this particular Bill. A person who provides such a service without the required licence would be committing an offence.

The Bill provides for the introduction of new contractual arrangements for the procurement of public land transport services on a national basis, and it is modelled on the approach established in the DTA Act from 2008 in respect of the greater Dublin area. That is facilitated by the amendment of the DTA Act in Part 3 of the Bill. The provisions of section 6 relate to the bus licensing regime and in that context the use of the term "contract" to describe the bus licence involved would be inappropriate. It would also lead to confusion, with the separate contracting regime relating to the procurement of public transport services as provided in the DTA Act of 2008.

As this would undermine elements of the Bill, the term "contract" would relate to public service obligations or loss-making services, and "licence" would relate to commercial services.