Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 July 2004
392 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Transport if he will approve a transport operator’s route licence (details supplied); the reason this operator has received no response from the Department since the application was submitted before Christmas 2003; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20057/04]
View answerConsideration of the application referred to in the Deputy's question was finalised at the end of June and the Department has written to the applicant to advise him of the decision. During 2003, 196 applications were made by private operators and 153 notifications were submitted by Bus Éireann and Bus Átha Cliath, making a total of 349 individual cases. The application mentioned in the Deputy's question was among the last of a number received just before Christmas 2003. My Department, in addition to virtually eliminating a backlog of old applications during 2003, also succeeded in dealing with all the applications and notifications received during 2003, with the exception of a small residual balance of 16 cases, which are currently being processed.
