Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I warmly welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for coming in. He has a very busy schedule and he did not receive much notice about this matter. I am therefore delighted he is here today. I also welcome Martin Plummer, the chairman of the National Chauffeur Drivers Association and Mick Devine and his son, Shane Devine, who are members of the association and who are in the Visitors Gallery. I ask the Minister to seriously consider their situation.

The National Chauffeur Drivers Association is an independent and non-profit organisation representing the chauffeur-drive industry in Ireland. The association comprises more than 120 chauffeur-drive companies nationwide with members operating more than 400 high-end vehicles. They perform an ambassadorial role for Ireland because they meet business people as well as representatives of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and tourism interests coming to Ireland. They present a very positive side of Ireland, its people and its culture. I congratulate Mick Devine on receiving an international award for his work in that regard. He has driven luminaries such as Bruce Springsteen and others who are great ambassadors for Ireland. Regular clients include guests of the Government, trade delegations, diplomats and leading business executives. The NCDA also has strong links with many important groups in the commercial and tourism sectors. Its members are regularly called on by the Government, Departments and leading businesses to service visitors in a professional, positive and welcoming manner. I was a guest in Taiwan and the airline, Emirates, provided chauffeur driven cars to collect clients at Dublin Airport to fly on to the Middle East and onwards to Taiwan and elsewhere. They are providing great employment opportunities. On the way back from the airport we were stopped by a member of the Garda Síochána who reminded the driver that he could go only certain ways as we drove down O'Connell Street. He was not in the bus lane.

That is the background. I could not believe that people performing such a service, working for airlines on tight schedules cannot use empty bus lines going to the airport. They are dealing with prominent business people coming here with the major international companies. Nine of the ten largest companies in the world are here, including Google, and they require speedy access to business meetings with Ministers, the Government and business contacts.

After the Minister makes his point, I will present the document to him but I do not have time to outline all of the points today. In summary, the Minister is a progressive Minister, which everybody accepts. When the late Seamus Brennan was Minister, he was on the verge of granting the concession to paid-up members who paid the full fees. In this modern Ireland, they should be granted this concession to drive in bus lanes when appropriate. They would not necessarily use them on every occasion but when required and it is an option they should have at their disposal.

I would like the Minister to take up the case. He has other issues on his desk, including Aer Lingus, and while this may not be a priority it is a priority for members who came here to listen to the words of the Minister. We hope they will get some encouragement in this regard.

There are no objections from other organisations in this regard. This is a niche market providing great employment opportunities and those involved are great ambassadors in my experience. I was driven by two of the members from the airport when going out and coming back to Taiwan and their manner was positive as far as Ireland is concerned. In this regard, I would appreciated the Minister considering their case for using bus lanes.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Terry Leyden for raising this matter. I am pleased to come to the Chamber to respond and I acknowledge representatives of the industry in the Visitors Gallery. I see Senator Terry Brennan also has guests in the Visitors Gallery. They are all welcome.

The legislation governing the usage of bus lanes is set out in the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, as amended. Under this legislation, buses and bicycles are allowed to avail of bus lanes, as are taxis in the case of with-flow bus lanes only. The rationale for introducing this legislation, and for creating the bus lane network itself, was to provide on-street priority for bus-based public transport. The intention is to make bus services both faster and more reliable, thereby attracting more people out of private cars and onto public transport. This, in turn, helps to reduce both congestion and pollution. The construction of the bus lane network was done at some expense and inconvenience to the public in order to enable this to happen.

Cyclists are permitted to use bus lanes because they are inherently vulnerable road users, and would be safer in bus lanes than in general traffic. Initially, taxis were not allowed into bus lanes. It was only some time after the introduction of the lanes that it was agreed to allow taxis to use them. This was done only after much consideration, and was a concession based on the fact that taxis are available for on-street hire. Limousines, of course, are not. Vehicles used by members of the emergency services - Garda, fire brigade and ambulance - in the course of their duties may also be driven in bus lanes, in order to prevent delay in reaching the scenes of emergencies and in getting people to hospital.

Since the introduction of the bus lane network, my Department has received numerous requests to open bus lanes to other classes of road user. These have included requests relating to motorcycles, hackneys, and multi-occupancy cars. The issue of access for limousines has also been raised from time to time over the years. In all cases, my predecessors and I have taken the view that extending the use of bus lanes to other categories of vehicle would undermine the original purpose of these laws. The overriding concern in considering these applications is the carrying capacity of bus lanes. We do not want their primary role of providing bus priority to be undermined by allowing other vehicles access.

As a result, my predecessors and I have chosen to maintain the current restrictions on use of bus lanes. While in some cases the numbers of vehicles involved might not be large, conceding access to bus lanes to any new class of vehicles would make it difficult to argue against doing so for any other. In light of the original reasons for creating bus lanes, and the sound reasons for rejecting previous applications, I remain of the view that there is no ground for changing the law to allow limousines into bus lanes.

Senator Leyden made the point that other organisations do not have an issue with this. I imagine they would be quite supportive of it happening because once any new class of vehicle comes in, it sets a precedent for arguing that more vehicles should be included. In the near future, I hope to see the number of buses in our country increase and that will mean even more demand for use of the bus lanes, which in turn makes it more difficult to allow other vehicles in.

The Senator has some documentation and information on the matter he has raised and I am happy to take that from him on the completion of this debate.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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In a sense, I am disappointed but this is the start of the campaign. As a former Minister of State, I know the Minister has set a certain precedent and he has not had the opportunity to study this in detail. I hope he does so in due course. Chauffeur driven cars will not stop in a bus lane, unlike taxis that may pick up passengers. Chauffeurs go straight through with no delay and they add a certain prestige to the whole process of promoting Ireland. Many other issues are involved and we have prestigious business people coming in. In addition, Emirates Airlines and others are using chauffeur driven cars in Dublin. They are providing much employment.

From a transport and other points of view, this does not require new legislation but a ministerial order. Perhaps we could do this as a test run and make the concession to chauffeur driven cars during certain busy periods of the year, such as summer months in a pilot scheme to see how it would operate in reality. Would it affect traffic flow? Not many cars are involved and it is not a case of liberalising the entire situation. I will leave it open and will say nothing further because the Minister has a liberal approach to ministerial responsibility. In due course and after consideration and meeting representatives, the Minister may look at this afresh.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue. My challenge about this matter is not just how the limousine owners or its representatives will respond to this.The measure proposed would set a precedent in the use of bus lanes by other vehicles.  I am confident that bus lanes will become busier as more people use bus transport and more buses are supplied to respond to higher demand.  I do not wish to change the priority afforded to buses and taxis in bus lanes.  As I indicated, I will be pleased to receive any information the Senator may have on the issue raised by him.