Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

As Senator Cannon will be aware, Dublin-Galway services are commercial. Direct-award contracts are for a period of five years only and are already provided for in the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008. All new services are to be put out to tender. One tends to forget there is a review clause applying to the operation of existing contracts.

The purpose of section 28(1)(g) is to provide for the amendment of section 52 of the 2008 Act which relates to direct-award contracts between the authority and the three State transport companies. It is a matter of expanding the remit of the section from the greater Dublin area to the full geographical area of the State. This is fundamental to the provisions of the Bill. In other words, the authority will be responsible for public service contracts on a national basis.

Section 52 is a pivotal section of the 2008 Act, as it establishes the basis for the continued provision of the existing public bus and rail passenger services provided by Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail in the greater Dublin area and for which State funding is made available. This empowers the authority to enter into direct-award contracts - contracts that do not involve open tendering - with the three CIE companies in respect of the provision of existing funded public bus and rail services in the greater Dublin area. To facilitate the making of the contracts in respect of the public bus services, the section establishes that Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann have exclusive rights to continue to operate their current funded services, subject to the granting of bus licences under the Road Transport Act 1932 and future legislative changes. These arrangements will support the continued operation of the services in question in the general public interest.

The section also provides that the contracts can be reviewed and that subsequent contracts may be made. A review of a direct-award contract is mandated on the authority where it establishes that the maintenance of the contract is no longer necessary in respect of certain services. In these circumstances and where it is proposed to make subsequent direct-award contracts, the authority must invite submissions from interested parties before renewing or replacing the contract. All compensation paid by the authority under the direct-award contracts must be calculated and paid in accordance with the annex to Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007 of 23 October 2007 on public transport services by rail and road. The section also empowers the Minister to issue directions on the provision of public passenger transport services to achieve the Government's transport objectives or to comply with EU law.

The contractual structure established in the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, particularly in section 52, is in compliance with Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007 on public service obligations which comes into force on 3 December this year and provides for a new contractual framework regulating how member states award exclusive rights and pay compensation for services deemed to meet public service obligations. Having regard to these considerations, retention of section 52 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act is of some considerable importance, as are the amendments to this section.