Written Answers Nos. 42-52
42. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide comparative figures for the amount of subvention paid to Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus compared to other European public bus services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47180/13]
View answerIt is difficult to carry out a comparison of subvention levels between transport authorities internationally for a number of reasons, some of which are:
- The subvention payments for the bus mode are not normally separated out from the other modes such as light and heavy rail and are usually presented as the subvention for all the public transport in the particular region;
- Some transport operators and authorities report transport revenues as a single item and don’t identify the revenue associated with subvention;
- Some transport authorities centralise the marketing and customer facing activity which doesn’t get reflected in the provision to operators.
The 2009 Deloitte Report, Cost and Efficiency Review of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann highlighted that grants and subsidies to other comparable bus operations outside Ireland varied greatly. The Report also noted that it was more difficult to identify comparable operators for Bus Éireann given their mix of services.
While the Deloitte Report is frequently cited as providing a Europe-wide comparison of PSO levels to bus operators, this is not the case and it is wrong to represent the study as such. The Deloitte Report compared the PSO provided to Dublin Bus to the subsidies provided to operators in Brussels, Zurich, Amsterdam, Lyon and London and in the case of Bus Éireann, compared the PSO received by it to national operators in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. It is unsound to draw European wide conclusions from such a limited data-set. Despite the limitations in developing such analyses, I am advised that on the basis of recent research undertaken on behalf of the National Transport Authority (NTA), the subvention levels for operations similar to Bus Éireann vary between 32% and 70%. This is based on a comparison of subvention levels in 4 countries, namely, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
If the Public Service Obligation payment is the only subsidy considered, the subvention to Bus Éireann in 2012 was 35% of their total PSO revenues. However if the payment for the Free Travel Scheme is included, 46% of Bus Éireann revenues are subsidised by the State. This places Bus Éireann in the low to middle of the range of subsidy payments of those countries compared. In the NTA's recently published economic analyis of Direct Award Bus Contract in the Dublin market, it was stated that a comparative analysis of subvention levels across Europe indicated that levels of public transport subvention vary between 35 and 60 percent of revenue. It added that when all State interventions (including the PSO subvention, Free Travel Scheme, tax foregone as a result of the Taxsaver scheme, emergency funding and funding for the purchase of new buses) are taken into account, the level of subvention to Dublin Bus is at the upper end of the range and approaches 50%.
48. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will review the regulations covering the vehicle roadworthiness certification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46849/13]
View answerThe arrangements for commercial vehicle testing in the State were comprehensively reviewed in 2007 and the Government decided that the model for delivery of testing by private operators would continue and that the authorisation and supervision of commercial vehicle testing would be centralised under the auspices of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to ensure consistency of testing across the country. The Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012 provides the powers to the RSA to undertake this function.
The RSA is currently in the process of rolling out major reforms in the testing system, which will deliver an enhanced service for the customer. Apart from safer roads for all road users, the reforms are designed to level the competitive playing field for commercial vehicle operators by reducing non-compliance with testing and roadworthiness requirements. The new system will deliver several administrative benefits for operators, including online booking systems, reducing vehicle paperwork to be brought to the test and centralised issuing of the certificate of roadworthiness. No increase in testing frequency has taken place as a result of the reforms. Under EU law, commercial vehicle owners are obliged to test their vehicles annually and it is an offence to use commercial vehicles on public roads without a certificate of roadworthiness (CRW).
From 7th October last, a new annual fee, which includes a road safety levy, was introduced. The commercial vehicle reform process has been worked on since 2007 and there has not been any increase since then. The RSA consulted industry on the reforms and the planned road safety levy in November 2011 and the actual levy is lower than that proposed in the public consultation. There have been a number of awareness raising measures of the reforms over the summer months and the new fees were advertised in national newspapers on 3rd October 2013 and are available in full on the RSA website. The levy is also funding enhanced supervision, enforcement and compliance measures being introduced at the roadside and at operator premises. A risk rating system is also being introduced so that roadside enforcement activity is targeted at higher risk operators ensuring that compliant operators are less likely to experience disruption to their daily business.
52. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide a progress report on developments at the national sports campus; if he will detail the planned expansion of facilities there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46971/13]
View answerA significant amount of work is taking place at the National Sports Campus which will see a number of facilities completed this year and more to come on stream in the short to medium term. Irish Sport HQ has been completed and now is the administrative headquarters of almost 20 NGBs. Work is almost complete on the development of multi-sport all-weather floodlit pitches. It is anticipated that these pitches will be open to the public in December. Work is underway on a pavilion and car park for the facility. I officially opened the National Horse Sport Arena on 9 October and work on a new National Diving Training Centre was completed in September. A National Modern Pentathlon Training Centre, accommodating the fencing and shooting aspects of Modern Pentathlon has been completed which, together with the existing facilities at the National Aquatic Centre and the National Horse Sport Arena, means that the National Sports Campus is one of the few facilities in Europe where training for all Pentathlon disciplines can be accommodated on one site.
Agreements are in place among the National Sports Campus Development Authority and the FAI, GAA, IRFU and IHA to develop field-sport facilities for each of their respective sports. Preparatory works have commenced on the GAA and FAI elements. A new access road has been completed which will open up the site for the development of these facilities. Remaining elements of the National Sports Campus, including community pitches, high performance training and rehabilitation facilities and athlete accommodation, will continue to be developed incrementally in line with available exchequer funding. One of the elements of the National Sports Campus that remains to be developed is a National Indoor Training Arena. The announcement in the Budget that funding will be made available from the proceeds of the sale of the National Lottery licence to allow this development to commence is very welcome news for Irish sport.This is one of the final pieces of major sporting infrastructure in Ireland and worl will commence on this next year.
