During the course of 2003, a total of 196 applications were received for new passenger licences or amendments to existing licences representing an increase of nearly 100% on 2002. The Department succeeded in dealing with 139 of these applications, as well as concluding assessment of a substantial backlog of applications from previous years. A total of 57 were carried forward into 2004. Of these, 26 have been processed to date. All but one of the remaining 31 applications are currently under consideration and these are expected to be cleared by end May subject to the retention of existing bus licensing staff and the timely provision of any further information by applicants where necessary.
The particular notification referred to in the Deputy's question is one of only three notifications, of a total of 157 received from the CIE bus companies during 2003, upon which a decision had to be deferred pending clearance of a prior application for a passenger licence from a private operator. The Department expects to be in a position to make a decision on the case involved by the end of this month.