Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his consistent approach to legislation in the House, his willingness to listen to points that have been made and to act upon them. Our party voted against the Bill in the Seanad and the Dáil because of our belief that we could do more to get better value for the money that is being spent in this area and to introduce choice in how bus services are provided. That said, as the Minister acknowledged, the Bill is the first major legislation in this area since 1932. That is definite progress. More progress could have been made but we welcome the fact that progress is being made. When the National Transport Authority is set up it will have a weighty responsibility for our country in terms of making sure we have a proper transport strategy in place that works.

I am interested in two areas in particular. The first is how directly elected mayors, which the Government intends to introduce, will be incorporated, especially for the city of Dublin and the region of Dublin. How that is dealt with will be vital. The second point is that there were features of the Dublin Transport Authority, DTA, that could have been maintained in the new national transport authority. As I outlined on Second Stage, I would like to have maintained the ability of the Dublin Transport Authority to draw up a transport strategy for the Dublin region. The stronger ability of the DTA to get involved in planning guidelines was a welcome development and I would have liked that to be maintained in the national transport authority. That said, these are developments that can take place over time as the body gets up and running. I wish it well.

Given that this might be Mr. Weafer's last time to be involved in legislation in the House I thank him for his work and the support he has given Opposition Members when we have been working on transport legislation in recent years. I also thank my colleagues for the help they gave me on Committee Stage.