Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Transport the details of the draft bus licence issued to a company (details supplied); the stops which have been excluded and included in the draft licence; the reason for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25318/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is referring to an offer of a bus route licence made by my Department on 26 May 2009, following an appeal of an earlier decision in that regard.

The applicant to whom the offer was made was informed by my Department on 12 June that if the licence offer was not accepted by 19 June, no further consideration would be given to his application and the Department would then proceed to consider an application on hand from another operator to provide a similar service.

The applicant replied on 19 June rejecting the offer. The application has, therefore, been finalised and I am now in a position to inform you of the details of the application.

The applicant originally sought approval for an hourly service between Dalkey and Dublin Airport with stops at Dalkey, Glasthule, Dun Laoghaire, Monkstown, Blackrock and Ailesbury Road.

The applicant later amended the application to include an additional stop at the Killiney Castle Hotel. Approval was given for all requested stops bar Glasthule, Blackrock and Ailesbury Road.

The Blackrock and Ailesbury Road stops were refused as these stops and the timings would give rise to competition with an existing licensed operator providing an express Dublin Airport service. It is the Department's policy to avoid creating head-to-head competition between operators particularly where there are similar departure times.

Consideration of the request for the Glasthule stop was deferred until consideration of a prior application for a service on this route was completed. The next step is to consider an application from another operator.