Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 May 2004
189 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Transport the number of applications received by his Department in respect of new bus routes within the greater Dublin area; the details of the routes applied for; when each application was first received by his Department; the reason he has to date failed to make a decision in respect of these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14813/04]
View answerThe information sought by the Deputy is set out in the reply I gave in the House on Thursday, 13 May 2004, to a similar question, No 155, tabled by the Deputy.
As I indicated in that reply, private operators must apply to my Department in accordance with the Road Transport Act 1932 for licences to operate road passenger services within the State.
Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann are exempt from the requirement to hold a licence under the Road Transport Act 1932. However, since 10 January 2001, both companies are required by ministerial direction to notify the Department of any proposed new services or proposed changes to existing services at least four weeks prior to their introduction. A total of five notifications and licence applications are currently on hands in respect of the greater Dublin area and the dates of receipt are as follows:
|
Date |
|
|
Licence applications |
14 January 2004 |
|
11 March 2004 (two applications) |
|
|
1 April 2004 |
|
|
Notification |
16 March 2004 |
In accordance with long-standing practice, details of applications and notifications remain confidential until a decision is made. The outstanding applications and the notification indicated above are currently being processed by my Department.
All licence applications and notifications are dealt with on a first come, first served basis. The processing of applications and notifications involves detailed analysis to ascertain, for example, the extent of any overlap between the proposed service and existing licensed or other public transport services. This can include similar licence applications already received or prior notifications received from either Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann. However, pressing or exceptional circumstances can be taken into account in determining the order in which applications are dealt with. In some circumstances, while the preliminary work may have been completed on a particular application, a final decision cannot be made until other relevant applications or notifications received prior to it have been finalised. Decisions on the applications and notification mentioned above are expected in the near future.
