Robert Troy
Question:265. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his understanding of section 52 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 regarding the tendering of bus routes. [21888/16]
View answerThursday, 14 July 2016
Questions (265)
Written answers
The organisation, financial compensation and award of public transport service contracts is governed by EU law, known as Regulation 1370/2007. Relevant provisions of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 (as amended) provide the necessary Irish perspective to this overarching EU framework and section 52 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 provides the statutory basis for the direct award of public service contracts by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to the three CIÉ subsidiary companies.
Industrial disputes arose in 2015 in relation to the NTA's decision to tender out a small percentage of services previously directly awarded to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. As part of the Labour Relations Commission's brokered 'terms of settlement' in May 2015, my Department committed toward examining section 52 as regards some concerns expressed during these disputes by trade unions on perceived ambiguities in the text of the section. These perceived ambiguities included, for example, a concern that the legislation might lead to compulsory tendering of all routes in the future.
The Deputy may be aware that, in December 2015, my predecessor wrote to the trade unions providing the report that had been prepared by the Department (in accordance with the commitment arising from the LRC terms of settlement) considering the issues and taking account of advice received from the Attorney General. The Department's consideration essentially concluded that there was merit in amending the legislation to address perceived ambiguities but that any such amendments would continue to reflect EU law and the current statutory powers of the NTA to determine the appropriate mix of directly awarded and competitively tendered bus services.
I have recently received a briefing from my Department on the matter and I expect to decide shortly on the appropriate way forward.