As the Taoiseach will be aware, the national development plan promised 275 additional buses for Dublin Bus over and above those necessary to replace decommissioned vehicles. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, told Deputy Mitchell in the House on 3 February that in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Dublin Bus had 1,062 buses. Yesterday the Taoiseach described those figures as gobbledegook, yet they were given to the Dáil by his Minister for Transport less than two months ago. In the report published yesterday, Dublin Bus pointed out that commuters in the rapidly growing suburbs of greater Dublin are facing even longer journey times. As the Taoiseach will know, commuters in towns such as Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth, Kildare, Dunboyne and Ashbourne who want to switch from cars to public transport now find that impossible.
Perhaps we might have an explanation from the Taoiseach as to why commuters and those who wish to avail themselves of public services and transport have been let down by another broken promise. Why is there a serious discrepancy between the figures announced by the Minister to the Dáil and what the national development programme envisaged? What is the point of introducing additional bus lanes if there are no new buses to use them? Is that not another example of statements being made by the Government that it cannot honour and the Taoiseach's calculations and mathematics bringing us to a new low or new high, depending on how one wishes to view matters?