Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Transport if he will include the statutory provision of a passengers champion within the structure of the new Dublin Transport Authority/National Transport Regulator to make sure that commuters' concerns in all modes of public transport including bus, rail, LUAS and taxis are at the heart of the system of transport regulation; the way passengers and commuters will be fully represented in the new transport regulatory system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21262/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Section 17 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 provides for the appointment of an Advisory Council to perform the following functions -

-making recommendations to the Authority on a draft transport strategy, draft integrated implementation plan and draft strategic traffic management plan,

-monitoring the implementation of the transport strategy, integrated implementation plan and strategic traffic management plan and making any recommendations it considers appropriate to the Authority,

-making recommendations to the Authority in relation to the discharge of any of its functions.

The Advisory Council will comprise a chairperson and 23 ordinary members representing a wide range of interests. Of the 23 ordinary members, 4 members will be representative of the public interest. The procedure for the appointment of these 4 public interest representatives is that the Minister for Transport may prescribe organisations, which shall be invited to nominate candidates to be appointed by the Minister. The prescribed organisations may include organisations which, in the opinion of the Minister for Transport, are representative of

-the interests of transport users,

-the interests of people with disabilities, or

- persons whose professions or occupations relate to transport, land use planning, urban design, architecture or civil engineering.

In January 2009, the Government approved the General Scheme of the Public Transport Regulation Bill which contains proposals for a new regime for the licensing of commercial bus services, including those provided by Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann, and for the extension nationally of the new structures that will apply to contracts for public transport services that have been established in respect of the Greater Dublin Area through the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008.

The new Bill will also provide for the amalgamation of the Commission for Taxi Regulation into the Dublin Transport Authority and the renaming of the DTA as the National Transport Authority. In association with that particular initiative, it is proposed that the Bill will provide for the retention of the advisory structures that are in place to support the Commission for Taxi Regulation, which provide that at least two members of the Council must represent consumer interests.