Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Only a relatively small portion of the timeframe involved is related to the availability of funding to the Exchequer. Much of it is driven by how much time it will take to construct a railway order, the understandable work that will need to be done in the lodging of that order with An Bord Pleanála and how much time it will take the board to consider it. The procurement process will take some time to complete owing to the magnitude of the project. All of this must happen before the commencement of construction. In this regard, I have previously used the analogy of the expansion of the Luas to Phibsborough and Cabra and the linking of the Red and Green lines which, by the standards of Luas, is a substantial project. In comparison with other public transport projects across Europe and elsewhere it would only be a medium-sized project, but the timeframe involved, in terms of the decision-making process to allow the project to commence and become operational, is four or five years.The metro project is many magnitudes larger than that. I have always acknowledged that it will take a long time for that to be built. I hope it will be an option for the next Government, when the capital plan is being reviewed, to look at how that project and other projects could be brought forward or changed to reflect the demand we know is there for them.

Reference was made to disability access on trains. I am very much aware of disability access across all forms of public transport and, to digress slightly, I am very pleased with a recent decision I made to make more funding available to Bus Éireann to allow it to acquire more coaches, so that all its coaches will be fully wheelchair accessible. Much work is being done on how we can make our entire coach and bus fleet as wheelchair accessible as possible and Dublin Bus has already done tremendous work in this area.

With regard to airports and the change planned there, I acknowledge the concerns on the application of that policy. The main reason it is being brought forward is because of how busy our airports have become - Dublin Airport is case in point - and it is appropriate, in some circumstances, to have the ability to issue a fixed charge notice.

In regard to uniformity of taxi vehicles, as is the case of London and New York, because we have organised the availability of transport, in terms of taxis, through private vehicles for so long, that is probably not something we will be able to do at any point in the foreseeable future. However, the uniform branding, the decals and some of the points raised are an important step towards making our taxis more recognisable by the public. I agree that the quality of the service available has massively improved in recent years.

Senator Kelly referred to letters he saw in his colleague's home. I have been getting some information on this but perhaps we will get more information from the Senator on the issue after the debate or during Committee Stage. The NTA has launched an online service for small public service vehicle, SPSV, users which we believe deals with the need for hackney service drivers to be able to register, in a convenient manner, when they are on duty and for the service they provide. It is online through a website. An app and the text service, to which the Senator referred, are available as well as an information telephone line. During the debate on the Bill, perhaps the Senator will respond back to what I have said in case there is any change.

I will now respond to Senator Ó Clochartaigh's broad points. He referred to all the changes happening with regard to technology and the use of public transport. Ireland was behind the curve on this for a number of years but we have made a fair bit of progress in recent years. More than one million Leap cards are being used and progress has been made in the past 18 months in the roll-out of the Leap card well beyond Dublin. The card is available in many cities across the country. My objective is to extend the card nationwide in the next few years. It will be especially important for Bus Éireann and Irish Rail services that the Leap card will be applicable everywhere. It will be of particular value to be able to use a Leap card when using the Bus Éireann services anywhere in the country. This will be an important improvement beyond where we are now.

The Senator is correct that there has been a reduction in PSO funding. However, over the past year, the level of funding has been rebuilt from approximately €200 million with an increase of €28 million on top of that. Nearly one third of all the cuts have now been rebuilt over the space of budget 2015. I made the decision on the funding change in recognition of the fact that I want more bus services available across the year and in order for that to happen, additional PSO will be required.

On the privatisation of 10% of routes, which has been debated in the House for many years, I am sure I will not be able to change the Senator's mind today. However, those routes have gone out to tender. It is open to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to tender to win those routes they are currently operating. That process is under way. Those new services will be operational from the end of 2016.

Concerns were raised by constituents about decals and it is a point also raised by my constituents. However, one of the reasons this is a good change is that while vehicles are privately registered and privately owned, they are providing, and are licensed to provide, a public service. It is important to brand the vehicles in order to make it clear they are providing a public service. It also indicates the expectations people might have regarding the level of service, the quality and cleanliness of the vehicles and so on. There have been huge improvements in that aspect in recent years.

It is correct that because of the construction of the Luas cross-city project, there has been a reduction in the number of taxi ranks and a change in their locations. I accept that this situation has been a cause of dissatisfaction to many in the taxi industry but it is our objective, when Luas cross-city is operational, that there will be an expansion in the number of taxi ranks available in the city. The National Transport Authority has worked with the taxi industry on this.

I will conclude with the potential privatisation of rail services. I have made the point publically, and to the European Commission, that due to the small size of our railway market, the mandatory tendering that may apply to other European rail markets do not apply in Ireland. We only have a single rail network in the State and the interoperability between our rail network and other rail networks is quite limited and is confined to Northern Ireland, in particular, the Dublin-Belfast service. The situation would be completely different if we were located elsewhere in Europe where national rail markets interchange at many different points at borders with neighbouring countries. It is different for Ireland and this has been recognised by the European Commission in its recent decision on the fourth railway package now being reviewed and discussed in the European Parliament. I think I have addressed all the points Senators put to me. As I said in my opening contribution, this is very much a technical Bill that covers many different aspects of road traffic and public transport legislation. In many areas we are looking to make some progress.

I have just been reminded that I did not address the point Senator Mooney made about the Bill Deputy Dooley introduced in the Dáil to create a hit-and-run offence. We dealt with some of the Deputy's proposals under the Road Traffic Act 2014. I should have said that a proposal Deputy Dooley made in the Dáil regarding not having the home address of drivers who are registered made public has been incorporated into the Bill. I should have acknowledged that when I introduced the Bill in the Seanad.

The Senator asked whether it would be possible for specimens to be tested up to 24 hours after the incident took place. The advice we received from the Medical Bureau of Road Safety was that it would not be advisable to extend the time for taking specimens to test for intoxication because it might be very difficult to correlate the result with the time at which the incident took place.

If I have missed any points Senators raised, there will be an opportunity to address them later.