Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 Nov 1999

Vol. 511 No. 6

Private Members' Business. - Public Transport: Motion.

Mr. Yates

I move:

That Dáil Éireann calls on the Minister for Public Enterprise to introduce a number of specific public transport initiatives to encourage the greater utilisation of urban public transport services, including:

–increasing the State subsidy to Dublin Bus to an average of five pence per passenger journey on condition that integrated ticketing systems and late night services are made available;

–the franchising out of bus routes to the private sector where Bus Éireann is cur rently not providing a service in order to increase the total level of public transport provision;

–the necessary investment to provide for a comprehensive series of park 'n' ride facilities and feeder bus services attached to all quality bus corridors;

–the immediate issuing of 50 per cent more taxi licences in the greater Dublin area;

and implement a comprehensive capital investment programme for public transport nationally, including new structures to ensure the successful operation of public private partnerships.

I wish to share my time with Deputy Olivia Mitchell.

An Ceann Comhairle

That is agreed.

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

Out of courtesy to the Deputy, I will be present for his contribution but the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, will respond later on my behalf.

Mr. Yates

I wish to focus on some of the national transport issues as this is my only chance to do so other than at Question Time when it is rare for Members to have an opportunity to develop points beyond sound bites. The Minister has been in office for two and a half years and this will be her third Christmas as Minister with responsibility for transport and public enterprise. A new Secretary General of the Department is due to start shortly and I wish him well and congratulate him on his appointment.

In my constructive view, there is no overarching national transport policy. There is a fundamental need for a White Paper on public transport. The nature of and procedure involved in a White Paper on transport means that it would be considered by other Departments and would become a Government project. It would be central in the political prioritisation of Government and it would send a message on how the Government intends to modernise the transport systems. I make this point in a positive and constructive spirit, but that is the only way to ensure the type of seismic shift which is necessary to make people switch from private motoring to public transport.

The White Paper would confront the issue of whether there is a need for new administrative structures to deal with the plethora of agencies that are failing to come to grips with traffic gridlock in the greater Dublin area. It is good that the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Molloy, will speak later because transport issues straddle at least three major Departments – the Department of Public Enterprise, the Department of the Environment and Local Government in relation to roads, taxis, etc. and the Depart ment of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in relation to Operation Freeflow.

The public transport operator and CIE's subsidy is dealt with by one Department and there is a need for new structures to deal with that area. No matter how much success a person working under the auspices of Dublin Corporation can achieve, the system will not work unless he or she has some input into bus fare policy and enforcement through Operation Freeflow. A new greater Dublin transport authority is needed to radically re-regulate all aspects of public transport and motoring in Dublin. A White Paper could address that issue.

I am still unhappy that the operator with responsibility for DART and rail services generally is also responsible for safety. There should be a delineation and separation of functions in this area. This would ensure that people who must deal with operational pressures, such as juggling financial difficulties, the issue of overcrowding and other issues, such as whether a level crossing should be refurbished or more rail cars provided, would not also deal with safety. The issue of inadequate resources puts pressure on safety issues and the Minister has made it abundantly clear that day-to-day responsibility for safety lies with CIE. This is the legal position but bringing this area within the remit of an independent body, such as the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland which would monitor the situation with interim and annual reports, is the right way forward.

A White Paper could deal with the vexed questions we face regarding the future of Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta. It is only in the context of an overall access transport policy through a White Paper that such issues can be addressed and we can consider whether they are utilities or commercial operations. I am aware that the Government intends to produce a national spatial plan which will deal with housing and other developments. If it is intended to organise commuting developments to avoid the type of difficulties that currently exist in large conurbations, a White Paper on transport needs to be developed simultaneously with any spatial plan. I will not labour that point but issues such as disabled access, to which I will refer later, need to be made a high political priority because they are policy questions. In the early 1980s, Deputy Jim Mitchell prepared a Green Paper, but there is now a need for a comprehensive White Paper on this area.

My colleague, Deputy Olivia Mitchell, will deal in detail with the situation in Dublin but I wish to make some general points. The Minister has been good at making announcements. She is good at going to Dublin Castle and being part of launches, such as the launch of the national development plan. I am sure there will be another launch in relation to the budget.

Mrs. O'Rourke

There is no more money. The Deputy asked me to get £2 billion and I got that amount.

Mr. Yates

It has gone up to £2.5 billion but I will deal with that later. There are more announcements than buses in Dublin.

Mrs. O'Rourke

The Deputy tried that last week.

Mr. Yates

I wish I had £1 for every time I have read about the 46 DART carriages which are on the way.

Mrs. O'Rourke

There are 44 carriages.

Mr. Yates

When I last checked, it will be this time next year before the carriages will be running on the tracks.

Mrs. O'Rourke

That is incorrect. Is the Deputy not aware that it will be next January?

Mr. Yates

I am told there is a further delay in relation to the commissioning of the carriages. I am open to correction, but I understand seats are still being removed from existing rail cars for safety reasons. People can only stand which has consequent difficulties.

Another announcement related to the IPO in June. There were balloons, clowns, dragons and music, but six months later we are left with only the clowns and tattered share certificates.

Mrs. O'Rourke

The Deputy is the biggest clown of all.

Mr. Yates

The Minister is very good at hype.

An Ceann Comhairle

Order, please.

Mr. Yates

I am good at giving credit where it is due.

Mrs. O'Rourke

The Deputy is a clown.

Mr. Yates

The reality has not matched the hype. In the Book of Estimates published last week, there is only a modest increase in the current annual subvention to CIE.

Mrs. O'Rourke

It is 6 per cent.

Mr. Yates

This is linked to the bus fares issue. There has been a hike of 5.5 per cent in bus fares. The Minister is the first office holder for some time to increase bus fares but I hoped there would be simultaneous integrated ticketing. It should be similar to the call card system where one can get a call card from Eircom and use it in any telephone kiosk. I also favour the introduction of a travel card which could be used on rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann inter-city services. This is the type of innovation I favour in relation to integrated ticketing. I understand late night services are still a problem and the only good news we are getting for the millennium is that the price hike will occur on New Year's Day.

Mr. Stagg

The Deputy is always ahead.

Mr. Yates

That is the millennium gift.

Mrs. O'Rourke

There will not be any buses.

Mr. Yates

There will be candles for the power cuts and if there are buses, there will be a price hike at the start of the new year. This is what I call a cold shower at the start of the new millennium. Dublin Bus has the lowest level of public subsidy of any public transport company in any capital city of the 15 EU member states. We have worked it out. It is 20p per week per person living in the greater Dublin. That is the level of public subsidy. We are setting out a modest request, to increase it from 3.38p per journey to 5p per journey. That is a reasonable request. I would have thought that in the present climate of trying to get people out of motor cars and onto public transport, this was the time to take that initiative rather than a fare increase.

My sources tell me that at around 6.15 p.m. this evening, the Government is to make a major announcement on taxis. I welcome that.

Mrs. O'Rourke

I did not tell the Deputy that.

Mr. Yates

No. The Minister did not tell me. My sources told me at about 4.00 p.m. today that we are going to have a major announcement on taxis. The Minister, Deputy Harney, has talked the talk on this issue—

Mrs. O'Rourke

And walked the walk.

Mr. Yates

—but she has left commuters to walk the walk on the issue of taxis so far because, frankly, the taxi situation has gone from desperate to horrendous. It started with people writing to me with anecdotes about queuing late at night for literally an hour and a half for a taxi. Now I get letters from people telling me that when they try to book a taxi at any time between 4.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. they are told the taxi firms are no longer taking bookings. The situation has become unbelievably and drastically dire. If someone wants to book a taxi to go to hospital, they are simply told they have to fend for themselves, that there are no taxis available. I hope we are not going to get a Christmas hamper from the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Molloy, and, like Operation Freeflow, find that in the cold days of January we will revert to the current position. We have 2,700 taxis in Dublin. We have suggested an immediate measure to increase that number by 50 per cent, and to allow hackneys to use bus lanes. They could have some kind of identification on them. That would not cause an administrative difficulty if we are going to have so many trainee gardaí watching the bus lanes. Many of the hackneys do not operate during the day, as pointed out by my colleague, Deputy Mitchell. There are currently some 5,000 hackneys, for which we are not getting public transport value. It is not that this is beyond solutions of public administration. There are readily available opportunities. The anecdotes I am hearing are quite horrendous.

The next issue is the quality bus corridors. They have been provided in Lucan, Malahide and Stillorgan. The one with which I am most familiar is the one which the Minister availed of – another nice PR opportunity—

Mrs. O'Rourke

No. I did not allow any photographers, unlike Deputy John Bruton.

Mr. Yates

—hopping on at Foxrock Church and arriving in Grafton Street in time for a cup of coffee, a little earlier than expected, we were told, and how delightful that was.

Mrs. O'Rourke

Did the Deputy go on it?

Mr. Yates

The problem is that there are people living in Bray, Ashford, Rathnew and all over Wicklow and north Wexford, who need to commute to Dublin every day. The bus and the QBC will not bring them home. They are not interested in a partial journey. They are interested in a complete journey, and the only way to make the QBC effective for them is to provide somewhere for them to park their cars in the morning and collect them in the evening, letting the QBC deal with the city leg of their journey. The failure to provide 4,000 park and ride spaces as part of the provision of the QBCs is of fundamental concern to me. When I contacted Owen Keegan about this issue, he said that was beyond the functional area of Dublin Corporation, that it was outside his territory. He said he agreed with me, but that there was nothing he could do about it. This should have been included as a fundamental design feature with any QBC, as is the case in cities all over Europe. I ask the Ministers, particularly the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, to ensure there are designated areas, now that the tax incentives are in place, for park and ride facilities.

I wish to turn now to something that is clearly within the ambit of the Minister for Public Enterprise. She alluded in one of her earlier interjections to the £2 billion she got—

Mrs. O'Rourke

It was £2.2 billion.

Mr. Yates

I am sorry. She referred to the £2.2 billion she got for public transport in the national development plan. I am glad to have this opportunity to go through this in some detail—

Mr. Stagg

Here is Santa Claus now.

Mr. Yates

—to see exactly how it will work out. My particular concern is twofold. The Luas tunnel has been a pet project of the Minister because she inherited the Tallaght, Dundrum, city centre Luas project which was to cost £221 million. It had European funding, but in May 1998 the Government upscuddled that, saying it was going to go for an underground Luas tunnel. Then, at a later date, the Minister said she thought it would be a rather good idea, with which I agree, to have a rail link to Navan and another, coming off the Dublin-Belfast route, linking up with Swords and the airport. I have searched the national development plan to find these three projects. At page 55, paragraph 4.23 it is stated: "A contingency provision of £500 million has been made for this". This is the underground section, which will not be available until the geotechnical studies, which will be a nightmare in their own right, have been completed at the end of 1999. Then I tried to find where we had the other proposals, and at page 56, paragraph 4.26, it is stated that a number of options for future development in the suburban rail network are being evaluated from a feasibility and cost perspective and that these include a new inland rail link to Navan, separation of long-distance and commuter rail traffic through construction of bypass rail lines, a new rail link from Belfast through Swords and Dublin Airport to the western lines, and a new rail link east of the current loop line in Dublin city centre, quadrupling the existing double lines where feasible, provision of enhancement of rail services for the development centres identified in strategic planning guidelines, including Drogheda, Naas, Newbridge, Kilcullen, Wicklow, Navan, Athy, Arklow, Kildare and Monasterevin, and more sophisticated signalling. Having had my hopes raised that we were going to have some progress on the tunnel and all these issues, I read: "As already stated, the same contingency provision of £500 million has been made for the implementation of this programme in the underground section of Luas". Here we have wonderful projects, enhancement of rail services all over the place, in Drogheda, Navan, Newbridge, Wicklow, Athy, Arklow, we have our underground tunnel and we have an airport link, all for £500 million. This is bogus. This is false. This cannot be done for this type of money. It will become patently obvious that sections 4.26 and 4.23 of the national plan do not hang together, and how woefully inadequate is the contingency fund of £500 million that has been provided for this. It might not cover even one of the projects.

Mrs. O'Rourke

Why did the Deputy come up with only £2.2 billion as well?

Mr. Yates

What I am saying is that, whatever about the Minister's enthusiasm for each and all of these projects, the Department of Finance has steadfastly refused to sign up to these projects, the Navan rail link, the Dublin Airport rail link and the underground tunnel. They will be shoved down to some public-private partnership project and become a long-term pipe dream. The short- term reality is that £500 million will not even provide the tunnel, let alone the other projects. I want to make it abundantly clear that this element of the plan does not stand up to scrutiny. It is bogus in relation to the contingency fund being unable to achieve the projects set out for it in rail alone, be it light or heavy rail, and people should see it for what it is and not have their expectations raised as they have been yet again only to be dashed.

In relation to public-private partnership projects, I raised Question No. 15 in the Dáil today with the Taoiseach in regard to what exactly is the state of play because people who are interested in design build and operate transport projects, who are prepared to invest a lot of money, tell me the units of PPPs in the Departments of the Environment and Local Government, Public Enterprise, and Finance, are not strong enough to bring this to fruition. A new directorate will be required, and the expertise and commercial dynamic does not exist in these Departments.

It is in the area of bus competition, particularly inter-city services, that I remain most disappointed with this Government's approach. The Minister takes a motorway approach to her Department. In the fast lane are the PR and consultancy people who make the Minister as photogenic as possible. In the middle land are issues that trundle along, such as Books of Estimates and national plans but in the slow lane is the Minister of State, Deputy Jacob and things that do not deserve any priority are consigned to him. Bus competition has been consigned to Deputy Jacob and will make little or no progress under this administration.

Deputy Stagg had done an amount of work in Government on the 1932 Road Transport Act. There is a consensus between the ICTU people and others with regard to legalising the de factosituation, setting uniform standards and enforcing proper insurance and tax compliance. I regret the Government's lack of political impetus.

The Vantastic group which provides a client-based service to 400 physically disabled people in Dublin city and county has put forward a submission to the Taoiseach for £380,000. If they do nothing else, I hope the Minister and the Government will look kindly on providing annual funding for that group so that disabled people whose needs cannot all be met by public transport can avail of that service.

I commend the motion to the House and I look forward to the Government's response to it. I hope the Government's initiative on taxis endures longer than one Christmas.

Ms O. Mitchell

The motion, as outlined by my colleague, Deputy Yates, calls for some very reasonable measures which could be implemented very quickly by the Government. These measures have been suggested before by Members on this side of the House and by others outside. We are perplexed by the fact that it is necessary to propose these measures again. Why is everyone in the country with the exception of the Government talking about traffic? Can it be that the Government is not aware that the greater Dublin area is grinding to a standstill? Journey times are lengthening every day, the quality of life is appalling and deteriorating, it is almost impossible for business people to move their goods, transport costs are rising, we are losing thousands of man hours in traffic queues every week and traffic is the major constraint to our growth potential. I cannot believe that no one on the other side of the House has noticed this. The Government has not only failed to deal with issues which could alleviate the problem in the short term but, even more disturbingly, has not given any indication that it is aware that there is a crisis which is deepening with every day that passes.

The Government knows the traffic figures, the demand for daily trips and the projections for traffic and population for the coming years. It is aware that the figures are scary and is probably aware that the new figures on which the DTO is now working are even scarier and indicate that a quantum leap in traffic provision is now needed. The Minister should forget about the provision of a few extra DART carriages and an extra QBC or two. Incremental improvements are no longer sufficient. Such extensions will not come close to meeting the current demand which increases weekly. A completely new and fundamental shift in approach is now required.

I accept that none of this will happen overnight although half the lifetime of a Government should be long enough, at least to begin. However, long-term plans will be completely irrelevant if Dublin cannot continue to function in the short term and to drive and sustain the country's economic prosperity. In the short term, Dublin's only hope of salvation lies in additional buses because that is the only method of transport which can be provided on the scale and within the timespan necessary. I am not talking about a few additional buses or about the handful of buses which Dublin Bus might buy with fares revenue. Buses must be provided in large numbers. This may mean that the company will lose money and this is why we call for the payment of a subvention. For a time some of these buses may be empty during the day but that is what is required if people are to be persuaded to leave their cars and use public transport. People must believe that a real alternative is available.

Almost all the buses which were bought last year with Luas money are now in use and they have not even begun to meet demand. They have not even succeeded in holding traffic congestion at last year's level. There are plans to open another nine QBCs in the next few months. We know of their ability to absorb buses yet not a single additional bus has been ordered. I realise there is provision in the national development plan for more buses but putting buses in the plan and putting them on the street are two different things. These buses should have been ordered months ago for delivery now. It is hard to know what we are waiting for when the money is available and the need is apparent.

In the suburbs there is mayhem. There are almost no orbital services, feeder routes or services for the new housing and employment locations. This is causing more than mere traffic chaos. It is causing real and ongoing daily hardship for people in the suburbs and in some cases denying people access to employment, not to mentions its effect on our stress levels and on the environment. If CIE cannot deal with the problem why can the private sector not be allowed to? What are the ideological objections to allowing private bus operators to provide services which Dublin Bus clearly cannot provide? After years of pressure we succeeded in having two licences allocated for the Dublin Airport area while the rest of the applications lie on departmental desks, unanswered. Applicants do not even receive the courtesy of a reply. Far from thwarting the efforts of private bus owners and ignoring their submissions, the Minister should be actively seeking tenders for new services. If she will not do that she should at least allow the local authorities in and around Dublin to franchise out their own routes. They, at least, know the pattern and extent of local demand and could meet the need better than the Department. Extra capacity is needed from the private sector but we also need competition to prevent the outrage of more than 20 Imp buses being hidden around the country rotting away. This is a waste of public money and an insult to the public. It would not happen in a competitive public transport environment.

The fiasco of our transport management is exemplified by the failure to introduce integrated ticketing. This has been talked about endlessly and studied by consultants and committees but, far from encouraging the public to use public transport by making journeys simpler, their options have been reduced by the abolition of the ten journey ticket. We have the money, the technology and the need for integrated ticketing so why can we not have a single multi-purpose ticket? Why can the State provider not do what every other country in Europe can do, no matter how poor? What is wrong with a Minister who allows this situation to go on year after year?

It is a scandal that QBCs were planned and implemented without accompanying park and ride facilities. If the Minister were in the House I would ask her to intervene, even at this late stage, to ensure that future QBCs are not opened without these facilities or at least that areas are designated for them. The result of the opening of the Stillorgan Road QBC has been to turn the adjacent residential roads and villages into blanket carparks, adding to local congestion and general misery. Even bike and ride facilities have not been provided and these could be provided very cheaply at junctions along the QBC. They would significantly increase the catchment area of the QBC and take a percentage of the population out of cars and on to bikes and buses. If the Minister wanted a really quick measure, bike and ride facilities could be installed next week, in time for Christmas.

At this time of year even the Tánaiste's and the Taoiseach's minds turn to taxis, unfortunately too late to do anything in time for Christmas although we all await the Minister's announcement. It was the Taoiseach's intervention in setting up the taxi forum to allow taxi licence owners air their grievances which delayed the issuing of any licences for several months. I do not know if that was the intention but it was futile because even he now accepts the compelling evidence that additional licences are needed and must continue to be issued until supply equals demand. If the Minister wants a measure which would be popular and easy to implement will he please allow the hackneys use the bus lanes, at least in the run up to Christmas? There are 5,000 licensed hackneys in Dublin and at peak hour traffic, which is most of the day, at least half if not two-thirds of them stay at home because it does not make economic sense for them to go out to work. They are paid on a mileage system. If it takes an hour or an hour-and-a-half to go five miles it makes sense for them to stay at home. It does not make sense for the Government to deprive the public of the use of 2,000 or 3,000 cabs when people are screaming for a service. There is an identification issue but surely it is not beyond human ingenuity to produce some kind of car sticker that would identify those hackneys pending the introduction of the official ID system.

At this time of year, and at any time, a good taxi and hackney service is essential for a capital city and is essential to encourage a switch to public transport. At this time of year when many people are taking extra journeys, when there are extra visitors home for the millennium celebrations, liquid lunches and so on, it does not make sense to actively discourage from providing a service, those who are willing and available to provide one.

Another issue that could be tackled in the short-term is urban school transport if somebody was willing to take a handle on this. A real contribution could be made by subventing secondary schools – I target them because they have larger catchment areas than primary schools – and giving them a subsidy to provide their own local school transport, instead of a blanket subsidy to CIE. It would provide a locally focused service suited to the individual needs of the pupils of each school and to school timetables which Dublin Bus do not seem able to address. There are thousands of Dublin parents who take their cars to work, only because they have to drop children to school. This often results in journeys in several directions at peak time, thus adding to congestion. This could be avoided if a little imagination was applied to the problem. It is a system that exists in every European country and in rural areas and nobody can understand why it cannot apply in Dublin.

My colleague mentioned also the plans for Christmas. One of the best kept secrets of the millennium is the CIE plan for late night services. Is there a plan? Will there be a repeat of last year's fiasco where the Minister announced one day that there would be a late night service and took it back the next day.

Mrs. O'Rourke

No, Deputy John Bruton announced it.

Ms O. Mitchell

If the Minister says so, her memory must be failing. The Minister of State, Deputy Brennan, has invited us all to a party in the centre of the city on new year's eve but he has not told us how we are to get home or, indeed, how we are to get there.

Mrs. O'Rourke

Or stay at home on new year's eve.

Ms O. Mitchell

Will there be any buses that day? I do not think it is premature at this stage to ask if there are any plans as, this year more than any other, people are trying to plan in advance and to organise their trips and their celebration venues based on the availability of public transport. People are taking a responsible attitude to drinking and driving. We now know that the doubling of the taxi fleet which was promised by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste was just a flight of pre-Christmas fancy. The public is entitled to be told if there are any other public transport provisions made for the millennium. Christmas is only a once-a-year event, and thanks be to God I will not ever have to worry about the millennium again, but my main concern is for the other 11 months of the year. If there was a sense of urgency all the measures mentioned could be put in place in the short-term and we could soon see an impact on the streets.

I concentrate on the short-term because the problem of congestion on the streets of Dublin City and county and in the surrounding counties is getting worse on a monthly basis so that the measures that might have had some impact today will be wholly inadequate in six months' time. That is the reason the Government must take this problem by the scruff of the neck and act now or accept that Dublin will no longer be a viable entity. Instead of action, the Government has given us plans for the future. For a while so many plans were being issued that the public was fooled into believing it would wake up some day and everything would be all right. However it has learned that that is not true.

More recently the mantra and the excuse for inaction has been that it will all be contained in the National Development Plan. I welcome the money allocated to transport infrastructure in the plan but the reality is, and the other side must be aware of this, that it is our children's children who will benefit from that spend. As well as plan ning for the future the Government has to deal with the now, otherwise Dublin has no future. It is time for the Taoiseach to take personal political responsibility for changing whatever inertia and mindset is dictating the pace of response to this crisis. If he cannot deliver even short-term solutions to a problem which we face daily and which is impossible to forget or to avoid any day of the week, what hope is there of reaching the targets in the national development plan? We fail to meet the targets in the national development plan, in the roads area by £2 billion at a time when there are no shortages or constraints on the economy. On road construction alone, the plan requires a spend of three times more every year than we achieved on average over the seven years of the last plan. Put in context, that is the equivalent of building the south eastern motorway, the Port Tunnel and the Waterford, Kinnegad and Limerick bypasses every single year for the next seven years. What has been done to gear up for that kind of spend? Has anything been done to bring in the necessary expertise and labour to ensure we spend even a fraction of that? What has been done to resource the National Roads Authority, the Department of the Environment and Local Government or the local authorities with planners, engineers, consultants, technicians and so on required to increase their output by 300 per cent? What has been done to streamline procedures to make it possible? What has been done to reduce the 17 stages of departmental approval required by a local authority for every road project?

Having responsible controls and monitoring procedures is one thing but this is not control, this is departmental fetish which we cannot afford to indulge in any longer. Something must be done to streamline procedures. Neither on the short-term measures nor on the long-term measures have we seen any sense of urgency and what we are seeking is an acknowledgment by the Government that it is aware we have a crisis and that it can deal with it.

Governments are judged harshly always. If it fails to deliver on this one issue, which affects everybody as well as jeopardising our economic prosperity now and into the future, it will be judged very harshly. Generations have worked hard and made sacrifices for this prosperity and will not forgive a Government that throws it away. There is forgiveness for Governments which fail due to lack of money but when a Government has the plans, has been forewarned and has an embarrassment of money, mercy will not be shown.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy)

I wish to share time with the Minister of State, Deputy Jacob.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Is that agreed? Agreed

Mr. Molloy

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:

"Dáil Éireann supports the Government's comprehensive strategy for the revitalisation of public transport and in particular:

–welcomes the £2.2 billion provision for public transport in the national development plan;

–welcomes the fact that the CIE subvention for 2000 has been increased by 6 per cent, well in excess of the rate of inflation;

–notes that the Government has decided that the Department of Public Enterprise should undertake within three months a review of the Road Transport Act, 1932, with a view to the introduction of competition in public bus transport in Dublin;

–notes that the national development plan provides for substantial investment in integration measures, including park and ride and integrated ticketing;

–notes that the Government has decided that integrated ticketing should be introduced as quickly as possible during 2000;

–notes the commitment in the revised programme for Government to introduce measures to increase progressively the number of taxi licences in Dublin as quickly as possible in order to ensure a proper balance between supply and demand in the market.".

I am pleased to support the motion as amended. Transport management in Dublin in all its aspects is rightly a matter of urgent public and political concern.

My Department is sponsor of the Dublin Transportation Office which is mandated to drive and co-ordinate the implementation of the Dublin Transport Initiative. As my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise, will set out in more detail, much has already been achieved under this process. By end-2000, more than £5000 million will have been invested in Dublin transport management and infrastructure projects within the DTI framework. Under the national development plan, which has just been published, more than £3 billion is provided to accelerate DTI implementation through the period 2000-2006.

The DTI final report recognised that taxis form an important part of the overall transport system in Dublin. They are designed to provide the most flexible form of public transport, offering a door to door service at all times of the day. Taxis come within my delegated responsibilities as Minister of State and I will pay particular attention to this element of the motion. Deputies will be aware that the Government parties' revised An Action Programme for the Millennium has made an explicit commitment to improving the Dublin taxi service in the following terms: we will introduce measures to increase progressively the number of taxi licences in Dublin as quickly as possible to ensure a proper balance between supply and demand in the market. Tonight I am able to answer to the House in full as regards delivery of this commitment.

The Fine Gael motion calls for the issue of 50 per cent more taxi licences in the greater Dublin area. The Government's assessment is that this level of increase would not guarantee the high quality of service to the public that we now require. We consider that more needs to be done to reach a satisfactory solution, and I will shortly detail to the House the elements of that solution.

To understand the background to the measures which the Government will now introduce, I will briefly recall the recent history of taxi licensing in Dublin. Dublin taxi numbers remained unchanged, in the region of 1,800, between the late 1970s and 1991. In 1991-92, the then Minister for the Environment provided for the issue of 150 additional taxi licences of which 50 were for a new category of wheelchair accessible taxi. A major review of taxi services was commissioned by the Dublin local authorities in 1998 from Oscar Faber, transport consultants. Their report proposed an annual issue of 350 new taxi licences to eliminate this shortfall over ten years. Following the analysis of the Oscar Faber review, as well as the recommendations of the Dublin Taxi Forum, Dublin Corporation decided to issue 1,220 taxi licences between 1997 and 2001. At the end of 1999, Dublin taxi numbers will stand at 2,700.

I acknowledge the recent improvements in Dublin taxi and hackney services brought about under the aegis of the joint committee of the Dublin Local Authorities on Taxi and Hackney Services and of the office of Director of Traffic, Dublin Corporation, and with input from the Dublin Taxi Forum. However, the gradual nature of these improvement policies has disadvantages. The major disadvantage is that Dublin, as capital of a rapidly growing economy, would have to wait until at least the year 2008 before eliminating the problem of current demand for taxi services. Strong growth in business, tourism and leisure demands in Dublin since the Oscar Faber report of 18 months ago makes it virtually certain that the report's estimates of present demand for taxis are conservative.

As the capital of a rapidly expanding economy, Dublin has seen a rapidly increasing demand for mobility in all travel modes. Numbers passing through Dublin Airport have more than doubled since 1993 and are expected to reach almost 13 million in 1999. There are now approximately 122 hotels in Dublin compared to 88 in 1995, and tourism has become a major industry in the Dublin region.

The present inadequate supply of taxis in Dublin risks harming the capital's reputation in the eyes of international business people and other visitors; it would also remain a source of frustration to residents of the city. A continuation of this situation for another eight years, albeit subject to gradual improvements, is not supportable. All of these factors have persuaded the Government that we need a more urgent and accelerated approach to matching Dublin taxi supply and demand. At the same time, we are conscious of the significant investment which many existing taxi providers have made in their industry and livelihood.

The courts have made it clear that the State does not have a duty to uphold present traded values of taxi licences, but as far as possible, the Government wishes to devise solutions which will, in practice, be fair to existing taxi service providers as well as providing good service to the public. The Government has determined that a sufficient number of new taxi licences should, as soon as possible, be issued to make good the supply shortages in the Dublin taxi service.

A new taxi licence will be offered to all individual taxi licence holders in the Dublin taximeter area. Some 500 of these licences will be for wheelchair accessible taxis, the balance for ordinary taxi licences. It is proposed that the taxi licence fees will be £2,500 in the case of ordinary taxi licences and £250 in the case of the wheelchair accessible taxi licences. The granting of wheelchair accessible licences will be determined on the basis of a lottery of applications to be designed and implemented by Dublin Corporation.

In addition to this, a further 500 taxi licences will also be granted on the basis of the current points assessment system for the award of taxi licences. This encourages the uptake of licences by existing taxi drivers or "cosies", who have not been taxi licence holders. In the event that existing taxi licence holders either do not apply for a new licence or fail to pursue applications, it will be arranged that any shortfall will be taken up by means of a further offer of licences under the current assessment system. In all, these proposals are designed to increase the Dublin Taximeter Area taxi fleet by 3,100 to in excess of 5,800 by the end of 2000, including 1,300 wheelchair accessible taxis.

The arrangements to implement these proposals will be determined in regulations to be prepared by my Department as a matter of urgency. These will temporarily suspend the present delegation of certain powers to Dublin local authorities. However, this delegation will be restored at the earliest possible date to allow the Dublin local authorities to maintain the equilibrium of taxi supply and demand into the future.

I am confident this initiative will benefit the public and the Dublin taxi industry. The Dublin taxi market, like many other sectors of Dublin's economy, is capable of significant and sustained growth. As such, it can well support a larger and service driven industry to the mutual benefit of all concerned. The Government has acted decisively and well beyond the proposals of the motion to ensure a high quality taxi service for the Dublin public. I hope our actions will have the support of all members of the House.

Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise (Mr. Jacob)

I thank the Fine Gael Party for moving this motion. It provides the Government with an opportunity to set out its strategy for public transport over the period of the national development plan. Since taking office the Government has shown a commitment to public transport unparalleled in the history of the State. Over the past two and a half years we have taken a range of initiatives to improve the quality and quantity of public transport. We carried out the first ever comprehensive independent review of railway safety. Earlier this year we approved a five year railway safety programme costing £430 million. A Supplementary Estimate for £80 million will be presented for Dáil approval next week and £100 million is being provided for railway safety in the Estimates for next year. By these actions we have assured the future of the railway network.

We have revitalised and expanded the Dublin light rail project. Preliminary physical work is starting on the Tallaght line. Both the Tallaght and Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green lines have cleared all the statutory procedures.

The Government immediately responded to the DTO short-term action plan and provided EU and Exchequer funding for the investment recommended in the plan. Implementation of the plan is largely on target for the end of 2000 and we are already seeing the fruits of that investment in areas such as the 150 new buses and the Stillorgan quality bus corridor. It is important to remember that the short-term action plan will, when fully implemented, deliver substantial increases in public transport capacity, increasing peak hour bus capacity by up to 45 per cent and rail capacity by up to 60 per cent.

This Government was the first to provide significant Exchequer resources for capital investment in public transport. We allocated £56 million in the 1999 Estimates and the Estimates for next year provide £235 million. The clearest possible demonstration of the Government's commitment to public transport is to be found in the national development plan, which sets out a clear and comprehensive strategy for the revitalisation of public transport. That strategy has two parts. The first is the transformation of the public transport system in the greater Dublin area. The second is a regional public transport programme which provides an assured future for the railway network, addresses the transportation require ments of the four provincial cities and provides for the upgrading of regional bus services.

Over the seven years of the national plan it is proposed to invest £2.2 billion in public transport. That means we plan to spend an average of £6 million every week from now until the end of 2006. This is far and away the highest level of investment in public transport since the heyday of railway development in the latter part of the 19th century.

On the national plan strategy for the greater Dublin area, the planned £1.6 billion investment is designed to address traffic growth through a combination of investment and demand management measures; to increase accessibility for all; and to provide a public transport network which addresses the requirements of the strategic planning guidelines.

The planned public transport programme is designed to support the strategic planning guidelines published earlier this year. The guidelines, prepared by the regional and local authorities in the Dublin and mid-east regions, provide a strategic land use planning framework for the region. In framing the national plan, we have taken great care to align the transport programme with the land use framework. By doing this we have provided a single composite development framework for the region, covering transport, housing and economic development. Local authorities must also ensure that their development plans and planning decisions are fully in keeping with the strategic planning guidelines. It is only in this way that we can ensure a proper integration between transport and land use in the region.

The public transport strategy for the greater Dublin area comprises an integrated package of measures, covering bus, rail and light rail, integration measures, traffic management and demand management. The package is based almost entirely on the recommendations of the Dublin Transportation Office, as published earlier this year in its transportation blueprint. It is designed to provide a quality public transport product which will offer a real alternative to private car commuting.

The programme recognises that an improved bus service must be the core of any short-term strategy to address congestion. The increased role which the bus can play has been proven most recently by the positive impact of the new Stillorgan quality bus corridor. The strategy is designed to improve the quality, reliability, frequency and speed of bus services. The objective is to provide a much better mesh of bus services – radial, orbital, local and feeder.

It is also planned to develop local bus services within the development centres identified by the strategic planning guidelines and to improve links between those centres and the city. The first of these local services has just been launched by Bus Éireann in Navan.

Overall we plan to invest £220 million in the bus network in Dublin and the surrounding counties. This will fund the purchase of 275 additional buses to increase the fleet by 28 per cent. It will also finance the replacement of more than 500 existing buses. This will permit the withdrawal from service of the oldest buses in the fleet, reduce the age of the fleet from seven to six years on average and increase the overall quality of buses. This strategy will be supported by measures to give better priority to the bus on the road network. Improved priority for buses is critical to improving the speed, reliability and overall quality of bus services, as well as ensuring the best possible use of the available resources. Under the national plan a further five quality bus corridors will be provided and the 12 corridors currently being provided will be upgraded.

Suburban rail development in Dublin is being addressed in two parts: a short-term strategy and a longer term development programme. The purpose of the short-term programme is to maximise the use of the existing suburban rail network. It includes the provision of more than 100 extra DART and suburban rail cars, a range of signalling and infrastructural works, the lengthening of station platforms to cater for eight car trains and the opening of a number of new stations. It will involve an investment of £185 million and will increase DART capacity by almost 40 per cent and suburban rail capacity by 26 per cent. This is additional to the increasees in capacity being delivered under the DTO Short-term Action Plan, particularly through the purchase of DART and suburban rail cars.

Once the short-term programme has been implemented, it will only be possible to develop rail services further by increasing the capacity of the rail network, especially in the city centre. How we provide this additional capacity requires very careful study. We need to find the right solutions which facilitate the longer term development of the rail network. It was for that reason that the Government decided in March that CIE should commission a major strategic rail study to address these very issues and to consider various ideas and concepts put forward in the strategic planning guidelines. Ove Arup are undertaking this study and when it is finished we will have a clear strategic basis for the longer term development of the suburban rail network. The Government has taken the prudent and sensible step of including a very substantial financial contingency in the national plan for the implementation of this strategic rail development programme. If further resources are required at a later stage, they will be provided. I have no doubt that public-private partnerships will play a vital role in implementing this programme.

The national plan also makes full provision for the implementation of the enhanced and extended light rail network approved by Govern- ment in May 1998. A total of £430 million has been provided for the surface elements of the two lines – Tallaght to Connolly Station and Sandyford to Dublin Airport. A geotechnical study of the underground section in the city centre is nearing completion and a financial contingency has also been included in the national plan for this work. Preliminary work on the Tallaght line is already under way. The Sandyford line recently cleared the statutory procedures. We will see the first line up and running by early 2003 and the full network completed within the national plan period.

Better integration of public transport in the city is also of major importance. A total of £50 million has been set aside to promote integration in a practical way. This will be used to provide an extra 3,700 park and ride places, introduce integrated ticketing and develop interchange facilities which make it easier to transfer from bus to bus or from one mode of transport to another.

The Government is fully aware of the importance of integrated ticketing on the overall strategy. My Department is chairing a group which is developing detailed proposals for integrated ticketing. The Government recently decided that integrated ticketing should be introduced as quickly as possible during 2000.

Under the DTO Short-term Action Plan, 2,700 park and ride places will be provided. Substantial progress has been made, particularly on rail-based park and ride sites. This has been assisted by the £2 million special allocation made to the Dublin Transportation Office in the 1999 budget. Bus-based park and ride is proving more difficult because of the shortage of suitable sites. However, the local authorities are working hard to develop appropriate sites.

Two hundred million pounds has been set aside for traffic management measures designed to improve the efficiency and increase the capacity of the existing road network. Over the coming year the DTO will prepare a demand management strategy to maximise the impact of the investment and to ensure a sustainable approach to transport in Dublin.

The Government recognises that improving the quality of public transport services in Dublin involves more than just providing the necessary capital for investment. This is explicitly acknowledged in the national plan. The Government has established a Cabinet infrastructure committee, chaired by the Taoiseach and including the Tánaiste, the Ministers for Finance, the Environment and Local Government, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Public Enterprise and the Attorney General. It is assisted by a cross-departmental team of senior officials. That committee will monitor the implementation of the public transport programme, especially in Dublin. It will also provide a forum for addressing any institutional, administrative or regulatory reforms necessary to ensure a better quality public transport service.

As evidence of the Government's determination to act in this area, my Department will complete a review of the Road Transport Act, 1932, within three months with a view to the introduction of competition in public bus transport in Dublin. I am sure Deputy Yates will be delighted to hear that. In recent months I have made a good start on that, as the Deputy will be aware. The conclusions of that review will be considered in the first instance by the Cabinet infrastructure committee. My Department has already commenced a consultative process, inviting the views of a range of organisations, including CIE, PAMBO and the trades unions. We will shortly invite the views of other organisations and the wider public. I would also welcome the views of Members of this House, particularly during this debate.

Public-private partnerships will also play an important part in improving the delivery of public transport infrastructure and services. Both Luas and the strategic rail programme for the greater Dublin area are appropriate candidates for PPP. The national plan sets a target of £300 million for PPP-based public transport investment. However, the Minister for Finance made it clear at the launch of the national plan that the PPP targets were minimum ones. We will not be found wanting in using PPPs to accelerate the implementation of public transport projects. The Government is also increasing State support for public transport services. The subvention in 2000 will be £115.2 million compared to £108.9 million in 1999. The increase is 6 per cent which is well ahead of inflation. I expect that a large part of this increase will go to support the additional services being provided by Dublin Bus and that the level of subvention in the year 2000 will exceed the average 5p per journey suggested in the Fine Gael motion.

I now want to turn to regional public transport. The national plan has allocated a total of £650 million for investment in public transport in the regions. Some £500 million pounds will be spent on revitalising the mainline railway network. Of this, £350 million will be spent on implementing the railway safety programme 1999-2003. Before the end of that period the railway safety task-force will be reconvened to prepare a second five-year programme.

The current railway safety programme involves major expenditure on track renewal, signalling, level crossings, bridges, other infrastructure and, most importantly, improved safety management systems. About 490 kilometres of jointed track will be replaced with continuous welded rail. By the end of 2003 virtually all the track on the Dublin-Waterford, Mallow-Tralee, Dublin-Sligo, Athlone-Westport, and Dublin-Rosslare lines will have been renewed. Substantial progress will be made on other lines such as Ballina, Limerick-Ennis and Limerick Junction-Waterford. This will make a very important contribution to regional development and is a clear vote of confidence in the future of our existing railway network. In addition to the safety expenditure, a further £150 million will be spent on railway renewal and upgrading work, including the purchase of extra rolling stock and the upgrading of stations.

By its actions, the Government has assured the future of the railway network. We have put in place a £500 million investment programme which will redress decades of under-investment. The challenge now for CIE is to improve the quality of service across the network so that the railway will become the first choice for those travelling. We plan to spend £50 million on improving urban public transport in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. This expenditure is designed to increase the quantity and quality of public transport, particularly bus services, in those cities. Railway services will also be considered. Commuter rail services between Cork, Cobh and Mallow will be upgraded and the possibility of providing such services on the Cork-Midleton and Limerick-Ennis lines will be evaluated over the coming months.

The investment programme will take particular account of the findings of local land use and transportation studies, such as those recently completed in Galway and under way in Limerick. These locally commissioned studies are especially useful since they provide a wider land use and socio-economic context for transport investment decisions.

A total of £75 million will be spent on upgrading the Bus Éireann fleet and £12 million on improving regional bus services outside the main cities. The overall package will provide 450 replacement buses to upgrade the rural fleet and 110 new buses for the urban fleet. The Government has put public transport at the forefront of the agenda for national economic and social development. We have committed the necessary financial resources to achieve a major improvement in the quality and quantity of public transport services. We have set out a clear strategy. We have made it clear that we will address any impediments to the delivery of these improved services.

I urge the House to support our amendment to the Fine Gael motion.

Mr. Stagg

I wish to share my time with Deputies Gilmore, Upton, Broughan and Seán Ryan.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Stagg

The motion this evening refers to one of the most important social and economic challenges facing society at present, namely the provision of a high quality, efficient public transport system. Public transport in this country has suffered from decades of under-investment and official neglect. This prejudice against public transport has its roots in the conservative philosophy of the new right, popularised by both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. This narrow, soulless view of society dictated that everything private was good and everything public was bad.

Public transport companies were perceived as being no different from those in the private sector. They should operate solely on a profit and loss basis. If losses were incurred then the company had failed and should be broken up and replaced. It is worthwhile to note that the main proponents of this view probably never used public transport and conceived their ideas from their own privatised ivory towers. What else would one expect? This narrow, prejudiced economic view of public transport had its followers in this country and their influence held sway until very recently.

The damage which has flowed from this state of affairs can be seen every morning in Dublin and other large urban centres. The failure to invest in public transport, combined with the rising prosperity of certain sections of society and the frightening upsurge in car sales has resulted in chronic gridlock on the streets of Dublin and elsewhere. This congestion is costing billions each year in economic, environmental and social terms. On many occasions the House has heard about the economic cost of such congestion, but I also want to stress the environmental and health implications of the traffic mayhem we now have to deal with. Yesterday, I was struck by a report in a newspaper which related to the "free-flow" operation being put in place for the Christmas season. One of the initiatives was the re-introduction of a dedicated traffic radio station. This year, however, it will have an expanded remit. Not only will the station provide up-to-date reports on traffic flows, it will also give information on pollution levels in Dublin.

It seems that nearly a decade after smog was banished from the capital, we may be back at square one due to the carbon dioxide emissions from cars. The air pollution now resulting from car use in Dublin is of major concern. Respiratory illnesses strike young and old people hardest and the thousands of cars spewing pollutants into the air every day are poisoning the air we breathe. As a result, more strain is being placed on our health services and the quality of life of thousands of our citizens is being lowered. In addition, the rapidly increasing pollution from cars is fatally undermining Ireland's commitment to reduce greenhouse gases, as entered into at the Kyoto summit. If we are serious about meeting our legally binding obligations we must take urgent and radical action to cut down on car use, especially in cities and towns. The only way to achieve this objective is to invest in public transport and ensure that the privileges which have been extended to the private car in our urban centres come to an end.

I welcome the call in the motion for an increased subsidy to Dublin Bus. We have one of the lowest State subventions of public transport among all our EU neighbours. If proof of this is needed, one only has to look at the standard of public transport which our citizens have to put up with. The lesson we have to learn is that public transport must be supported by the State, through a direct subvention from the Exchequer. The failure to do so in the past, albeit when Exchequer finances were in a much less healthy state, has lead to the current crisis.

For some reason which escapes me, however, the Government believes that the travelling public must fork out for improvements in public transport. The forthcoming hike in fares, sanctioned by the Minister, is sight-shorted, counterproductive and downright mean. Why did the Government decide to make public transport more expensive for the travelling public when it had at hand an unprecedented sum of money? What logic lay behind this decision?

An integrated ticketing system is urgently needed to make public transport more user friendly and efficient. Most other major cities in Europe operate such methods which facilitate and encourage smooth movement between different public transport systems. It provides added value to the traveller and also leads to a more coherent and integrated approach to transport planning.

In her breakdown on public transport spending allocated in the national development plan, the Minister for Public Enterprise included the figure of £50 million under the heading "to develop an integrated public transport system through the introduction of integrated ticketing, the provision of park-and-ride facilities and the development of interchange nodes". Like much in the national development plan it seems impressive at first glance, but on examination it is woefully lacking in detail. How much does the Minister intend to spend on establishing an integrated ticketing system? What is the timetable for its introduction? For how long will commuters have to endure a fractured public transport system that does not give them value for money and lacks co-ordination?

Another major failing of our transport system is the failure to provide a comprehensive late night service. Our public transport system has failed to keep pace with the commercial and social changes that have occurred in urban life. Pubs, clubs and restaurants now open until the small hours of the morning, yet the vast majority of public transport closes down at 11.30 p.m.

The Nitelink service that operates in Dublin is a welcome development, but we must realise the partial nature of this service. An expanded late night bus service and the introduction of late night DART services are urgently needed. I am aware of the industrial relations issues surrounding these developments. However, if the political will is there is introduce change, I am positive any outstanding issues can be resolved and the travelling public can be provided with the transport system it deserves and needs.

The Minister's £50 million is also intended to provide additional park and ride facilities but, yet again, a timetable is not provided. However, in what the Minister described as "among the highlights of the programme" was a commitment to provide an extra 3,700 park and ride spaces. Is the great culmination of a seven year national development plan to provide 3,700 spaces? Some 70,000 additional cars were registered in Dublin alone in 1999.

As we have learned from our experience with the DART and the quality bus corridors which have recently opened, parking spaces located at key points along the commuter network are essential to the success of public transport. The policy of providing tax incentives to construct multi-storey car parks in the city centre must be brought to a halt. If the State is to provide a tax incentive in this area, it should be transferred to the suburbs and directed towards park and ride facilities.

However, we must also realise we cannot build car parks to cater for every car. An adequate system must be provided but, more importantly, we must develop the feeder bus service which joins our main public transport routes with major suburbs and housing estates. The Imp bus service, which has been introduced in Dublin over recent years, has proved very successful, especially in suburban areas. The expansion of this fleet to feed into our planned system of quality bus corridors is essential.

With regard to taxis, the stranglehold which the powerful taxi lobby had on Fianna Fáil beggared belief. There is a chronic lack of taxis in Dublin city. I compliment the Minister on tackling that lobby and taking decisions which will, in effect, more than double the number of taxis available to the public by the end of one year. I am sure backbenchers, such as Deputies Callely and Noel Ahern, will not be too pleased, given their pronouncements on the matter in the House previously. It might be politically notable that a member of the Progressive Democrats made the announcement in the House. Perhaps that was a slap in the puss to people who made comments last week on another issue.

I welcome this debate. At long last, the ideology of the new right, the ideology which demeaned and debased the idea of public services and public provision, has been exposed as a fraud. Public transport is essential to the economic, social and environmental well being of any society. As such, it must be supported by public funds as a form of social investment. The left has always held to that view and I welcome the recent converts to our approach; a number of them are in the House this evening.

However, the radical investment and improvement which we need in public transport can only come about if the political will to deliver this change exists. Decisions by the Government, such as the hike in public transport fares, the continued pursuit of a tunnel for Luas – which will never see the light of day – and the refusal, up to now, to take on the vested interests which have crippled the taxi service in Dublin cast grave doubt on the capacity of this Administration to bring about the necessary change.

The national development plan, which is supposed to drive public transport policy for the next seven years, disappoints on a number of levels. It is clear the Minister and the Government have no strategic vision of public transport. The departmental wish lists, which have been compiled by civil servants, form the backbone of the transport elements of the development plan. However, the political content, the overriding strategy for the type of urban transport system we want to achieve by 2006, is non-existent.

Mr. Gilmore

I join my colleagues in supporting this motion, which calls on the Government to wake up to the traffic chaos in urban areas, particularly Dublin, and to take effective action to provide an efficient and cost-effective public transport system.

The DART service is a major public transport facility in my constituency. There are ten DART stations in my constituency, running from Shankill to Booterstown. That facility is greatly appreciated by the people of that area. However, unfortunately, the DART service has seriously deteriorated recently.

There is now serious and dangerous overcrowding on DART trains and at DART stations. For example, by the time a DART train leaving Bray at peak time reaches Killiney, which is only two stops away, there are no seats left, and by the time it reaches Blackrock it is impossible to get on the train. In stations from Blackrock into town at morning peak time, commuters – public transport customers of the DART service – scramble to get on to trains. That is extremely dangerous and uncomfortable. Elderly people do not now use the DART service, particularly at peak times.

Mr. Broughan

Hear, hear.

Mr. Gilmore

I know extra DART carriages have been promised. However, passengers are becoming extremely frustrated by their inability to use this service. People who cannot get on a train often cannot get on the next train either. The form of DART rage we are experiencing along that line will lead to injuries because of the present inadequacy of the service. The problem has been compounded recently by the frequent appearance of notices on the boards stating the next train is delayed because of staff shortages. That problem must be dealt with so that an efficient service is provided.

The national plan tells us that 46 extra DART carriages will be provided over the next seven years. That is not enough and it is taking too long to provide them. Even if 46 extra carriages were provided now, they would not be sufficient to meet both the current growing demand for the DART service and the additional demand which will be generated when the service is extended to Greystones. We need urgent action to provide additional carriages and extra DART services.

In addition, action must be taken to improve the management of the DART stations, many of which are not staffed after 9 p.m. They are dark, forbidding places which people are reluctant to use at night, particularly if they are travelling alone. That should not be the case. The management of the DART stations should be given a much higher priority and efforts should be made to combine this with the provision of other commercial services in and around DART stations in order to physically upgrade the stations, provide some life in them and provide a sense of safety for DART passengers, particularly at night.

I appeal for immediate action to be taken to improve what was, up to recently, a high quality service but which, unfortunately, due to increased demand combined with the inadequacy of the service and the shortage of carriages, is becoming a poor and dangerous service. That should be rectified immediately.

Mr. S. Ryan

I am pleased to contribute to this debate. In the greater Dublin area, traffic congestion has replaced crime as the key concern for ordinary people. The difficulty being experienced in getting to and from work, school and shops is exasperating for everyone. Dublin is effectively gridlocked throughout the day and the term "rush hour" is no longer relevant. Gridlock is having a detrimental effect on the city's environment. Consultants have estimated it costs Dublin in excess of a staggering £1 billion per annum, with particular reference to accidents, pollution, noise, absenteeism etc., most of which are caused by road traffic.

It is obvious that action is required to attract people away from cars and on to public transport. Part of the motion before the House refers to the need to increase State subsidies to Dublin Bus, and I have always been in favour of this proposal as it would be cost-effective in the long term. Government support for public transport in Dublin over the years has been the lowest of any European capital city. In Athens the figure is 50 per cent, it is 39 per cent in Barcelona, 58 per cent in Paris, 74 per cent in Rome, 46 per cent in Strasbourg, 15 per cent in London, but only 6 per cent in Dublin. I hope the Minister is satisfied that we are at the bottom of the heap. His comments to the House on increased subsidies for public transport do not deal with the neglect of recent years. These are remarkable statistics at a time when the Minister is giving the impression that he wishes to encourage the public away from private transport and on to public transport. For a trial period the Minister should authorise substantial reductions in the fare structures of trains and buses, and increase the State subsidy accordingly. This policy of greater subsidisation for economic and social reasons would encourage more people to use buses and trains instead of private transport.

I will highlight some of the issues raised by the Irish Cabdrivers Association at a recent meeting with Labour Party Deputies. Statutory Instrument SI 316/99 raises a number of legitimate concerns for hackney drivers. The instrument states that no documents or signs referring to the licensing or operation of a vehicle as a hackney shall be displayed within a vehicle. This is totally unacceptable and the Minister should amend the instrument to require the holders of hackney licences to display identification, licences and authorisations internally in the vehicle, similar to taxis. This measure is vitally important for the security of passengers.

I have no difficulty with the requirement to keep a record of fares but I have difficulty with the requirement to take and record the names of passengers. There is a need to allow hackneys, as public service vehicles with suitable external identification, to use bus lanes for the Christmas period. For the past two weeks, hackney drivers have taken to the streets to protest at what they see as unacceptable and discriminatory regulations. As we approach Christmas, and in the interest of the general public, I appeal to hackney drivers not to proceed with this action. However, the Minister should listen to their legitimate concerns and meet them in the near future to discuss these matters and bring them to a satisfactory conclusion. That is the way to deal with this matter.

Dr. Upton

Two groups of people are seriously affected by the inadequate public transport system. I specifically refer to the inadequacies of Dublin Bus services. Those people who cannot afford private transport are totally dependent on the system. The second group includes those who can afford private transport but who are constantly being encouraged to use public transport to reduce the volume of traffic and the dreadful gridlock which has become part of our daily lives.

People who are dependent on public transport have no other available transport system. They are unable to get to and from work, they may depend on public transport to travel to and from school, and they cannot afford to hire a taxi to get to a hospital or other emergency services. Many elderly people are entirely dependent on public transport to go shopping, to get into town, to visit a health centre or doctor, or to access what to them are essential services like a post office. These people frequently wait for unspecified lengths of time for the next bus to arrive. They wait at bus stops where there is inadequate shelter, if any at all, and do not know how long it will be before the next bus will arrive. Almost every European city includes in its transport system a facility to inform those waiting of the approximate length of time before the next service arrives. At a minimum, such information, which could reasonably be made available at every bus stop electronically, should be provided. The frequency of the arrival of buses is a major concern on many routes. If people are expected to use public transport they need to be able to depend on a frequent and reliable service.

There is also a difficulty obtaining prepaid tickets. The Dublin South-Central constituency has an adult population of more than 70,000, but only 17 retail outlets which sell prepaid tickets. The irony is that people who need to use these tickets have to get a bus or drive to a location to buy them. It is also of considerable annoyance that bus users can only obtain change for their fare by bringing their ticket stub to the Dublin Bus offices in O'Connell Street. While the exact fare policy speeds up the service, there should be many more collection points at which people can cash in their ticket stubs.

The second group being encouraged to use public transport are those being asked to use the park and ride facilities. However, the problem is the singular absence of such facilities. The Government must ensure the provision of an adequate number of suitably located facilities as a top priority. Only through such practical developments can we hope to have a transport system which can be used, thus helping to reduce the appalling level of traffic chaos we are experiencing on a daily basis.

Bus fares should be reduced to encourage more users, but this means that the Government subsidy should be significantly increased. At present, the value for money element for the bus user is not sufficient to prompt anyone who does not absolutely have to do so, to put up with the inconvenience of the system. There are too many negatives to expect the paying customer to tolerate the hassle. I welcome the proposal to increase the subsidy for Dublin Bus and any other incentives required to improve the service which is urgently in need of updating, and to encourage users to avail of a genuine public service offering value for money.

Mr. Broughan

Eight years ago the Dublin Transportation Initiative, of which I was a member, in consultation with the Government, drew up a comprehensive programme for traffic management and the development of public transport in Dublin. Cruelly, eight years later we are still waiting for the introduction of some of those key initiatives. Eight years ago the Labour Party presented a draft outline of the Luas network to the European Commission but we are still trying to plan that project. During the rainbow coalition's period in office, the current Taoiseach, Deputy Ahern, played a significant role in holding up the development of Luas by going back on commitments he made when in Government with the Labour Party, thus setting back the debate by three or four years. Unfortunately, everything is coming home to roost. I commend the modest progress made in the past six to nine months in the planning of Luas, particularly since the Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke, appointed the Luas committee under Padraig White, a colleague of mine on the Northside Partnership. However, there are still fundamental problems. I have the national development plan here and it does not mention a Luas line for the northside, even though Dublin Airport caters for 12 million passengers a year and is overtaking Manchester Airport, and 450,000 people live in the northside, including in the growing town of Swords, represented by my colleague, Deputy Seán Ryan. The Minister has not made any provision for the northside in the next five years. The southside is catered for by two lines but where there is clearly a definitive need, to serve the airport and workers in the north west of the city, the Minister has done nothing. This is discrimination against deprived areas.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Gilmore, on his comments on the DART network. Fortunately, there are six stations in my constitutency. However, the situation is so dangerous at the moment that all that is needed is for the Minister to permit Japanese-style attendants, several heavy gentlemen who will push the people on to the trains and cram them in like sardines. It is extremely dangerous and Deputy Gilmore is right that it is a disgrace. The national development plan contains provisions for 46 additional cars and perhaps eight trains. This is a drop in the ocean—

Mr. Yates

Over seven years.

Mr. Broughan

—and is useless over seven years.

Mr. S. Ryan

The platforms will not take any more.

Mr. Broughan

Absolutely. It is a contemptu ous reaction to the 1.3 million commuters in Dublin who depend, in greater or lesser part, on the DART. Instead of expanding the network, the Minister is, in a mealy-mouthed way, giving us a small extension. As another colleague said, the Government seems to be in chaos on the linking of the Luas tunnel. We will have to have some kind of link. The original idea was that it would go from Harcourt Street to Broadstone. We were then promised a link from Heuston Station to Connolly Station, which is an obvious suggestion. However, we do not know from where the funding will come – it does not seem to be provided for in the national development plan. The possibility of consultations with the Japanese Mitsui Bank on a public private partnership was mentioned in passing. The Taoiseach has been thinking about these matters for the past five years and fundamental decisions have not been made.

One of the banes of my life, as a representative of a constituency on the DART line, is that we have no park-and-ride facilities. Villages like Raheny, Sutton, Bayside and Howth are becoming more clogged up with people travelling by car from the north west of the city to use the DART network. Unfortunately, they are jamming up residential areas and streets. The Minister is providing 3,700 spaces which does not seem adequate. As Deputy Callelly said, the Government played cruel games as regards the provision of taxis in this city. A few years ago, we were arguing about 150 taxis, then when the Government returned to power it was 850 and tonight the figure was 5,800. I wonder if some taxi drivers will be joining anti-racism groups outside Deputy Callelly's clinic on Saturday morning.

We need a dramatic improvement in the Government's attitude to public transport in this city.

Mr. McGuinness

I propose to share my time with Deputies Michael Kitt, O'Flynn and Hanafin.

An Ceann Comhairle

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. McGuinness

I welcome the £2.25 billion included in the national development plan for the development of public transport. There is a significant difference between the action taken by this Government and that taken until it entered office. I welcome the opportunity to discuss areas outside Dublin which need attention in future plans. It is significant that there is a reasonably high expenditure on public transport in Dublin because of its population and the effect on other parts of the country. However, I wish to highlight the service in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny.

Given the developments in e-commerce which are leading people to take up employment outside Dublin, there is a need to extend an efficient public transport service throughout the country. I am pleased that under the development of the regions section of the national plan, a sum of £12 million has been set aside for the development of a public transport service. In the overall expenditure and the development of the regions, attention should be given to areas experiencing huge growth, like Carlow and Kilkenny. The long promised and long awaited commuter service for these centres should be considered. A considerable number of people living in Dublin commute daily to Kilkenny. There are many decentralised offices there and the number of people employed in them is growing, thanks to other Government policy. I hope that in line with this development, these people and those conducting their business in the capital will be able to avail of a proper commuter service. The old railway stations should be modernised. These developments will put us at the cutting edge of public transport in the EU.

Significant developments have taken place but, given the demand of the marketplace and the public's desire for efficient public transport, huge investment will be necessary, not just what is outlined in the national plan. We must continue to monitor the changes taking place in public transport and the finance required. If a proper transport system was available, it would eliminate some of the difficulties in growing urban areas. For example, I would like to see a proper transport system in Kilkenny, serving the region as well as the county. This would remove a volume of traffic from the city centre and the medieval centre of Kilkenny, which would result in freeing up roads. With the development of Belview Port in Waterford, there is a need to ensure a more efficient flow of traffic throughout the region.

Local authorities are experiencing problems in planning routes, particularly ring roads. Carlow is an example of the problems which can be caused by the lack of public transport. If a proper system was in place for commuters, we would have less need for a super highway from Kildare to Kilkenny. Perhaps a ring road would be the best solution, as has been the case for many areas. The proposed route 18 is being strongly opposed by the people of Carlow. This should be examined and a proper service for commuters established instead. This would ensure the effect on the environment would be kept to a minimum. Carlow is one of the smallest counties in the country and a super highway cutting farms in two, three and four is unacceptable. It is up to us, as legislators, to ensure this transport policy is applied outside Dublin and takes the regions into consideration. I appeal to the Minister and the Department to interract with other Departments to ensure developments, such as that in Carlow, are halted until a proper public transport structure is put in place.

A strong emphasis has been put on the development of e-commerce. Encouragement of this will be linked to the proper development of public transport. If there is a good public trans port system in place, we can ensure that the remainder of the country enjoys the growth in the development of e-commerce. People will no longer have to be at the centre of things in Dublin or other urban centres, they will be able to commute to their jobs. That underlines the need for development in this area.

I commend the Minister for the work undertaken and the money expended on public transport. However, I would ask that the remainder of the country be considered as a matter of urgency so that it can enjoy the growth in the economy and the positive steps being taken by the Government to ensure this continues.

Mr. M. Kitt

As successive Governments have not spent sufficient money on public transport, I am pleased the Minister, Deputy O'Rourke, has made a commitment in the national development plan to invest more money in that area. As a rural Deputy, I am interested in the regional public transport issue. I particularly welcome the fact that £500 million is to be invested in mainline rail. The Dublin/Galway railway line has often been mentioned as being in serious need of investment. Last year there was investment in the Galway/Ballinasloe section of that line and I look forward to improvements in the remainder of the Galway/Dublin rail link in the years to come.

Many of the Opposition demands this evening are dealt with in the national development plan. In relation to the bus network, I am pleased that proposed local routes will complement the existing radial network. I welcome the purchase of 275 additional buses to increase passenger capacity and meet the requirements of the network. I welcome also the bus replacement programme and the decision to provide new equipment. Reference was made to the additional park and ride facilities and integrated public transport ticketing. The park and ride facilities will be relevant in the case of Galway where there are serious traffic problems in the city and suburbs. There is a great need for this facility. Oranmore has been mentioned as a suitable town for this type of development. I regret that development in Galway took place too quickly with the result that the road developments were not given priority, particularly the feeder routes out of the city. However, Galway is fortunate to have a railway station in the centre of the city. For that reason, the rail links to Galway should be developed, particularly that from Tuam to Galway. There is a line from Athenry to Galway in use as part of the Dublin/Galway line. Upgrading of the Tuam to Galway line would be of great benefit. Other railway lines are needed from south Galway to deal with the traffic congestion into the city.

I wish to make a brief comment on quality bus corridors mentioned in the Fine Gael motion. In other European countries and in the United States special lanes are made available for taxis and people car pool or car share. We should look seriously at this. The traffic management measures must cater for disabled people and the needs of mobility impaired persons. I was pleased to hear recently that Galway Corporation has issued six new licences for wheelchair accessible taxis. These taxis should be available at all times for the disabled. Further taxi licences for the disabled should be issued by all local authorities.

On the question of transport by bus, the House will be aware that major roadworks are taking place throughout the country at present. This is certainly true on national primary and secondary routes, but also on other regional routes. In some cases this is leading to traffic jams with the result that buses cannot meet their schedules. Traffic diversions should be put in place rather than closing down lanes. For example, last week just one lane was in operation at Enfield. This led to serious delays of up to one and a half to two hours. People using these buses were late for appointments. This was particularly difficult for people with medical appointments. Some people would take alternative routes to Dublin if they were informed on time that traffic problems lay ahead.

I welcome the decision to earmark four new buses for Galway city services before the end of the year and the provision of £3 million for pilot rural transport projects in the national development plan. This is most welcome because in recent years Bus Éireann has been extending its rural services in conjunction with local community groups. It has also been developing low cost rural transport services. In many cases this is done by using the school bus or a private school bus operator on contract to Bus Éireann. This has led to a very cost-effective system which takes account of the particular needs of the local community. The passengers concerned, for example, can attend a day care centre or visit libraries or the post office, etc. Some services are arranged so that pensioners and social welfare recipients can visit the local post office and the bus waits for them. This is the best service of all. In many instances the general public depend on the regular Bus Éireann routes. In this context, I suggest that Bus Éireann consider making more stops on its routes. I have written to the Minister concerning a stopping point in the villages of Kilreekill and Cappataggle in County Galway to enable people to visit Ballinasloe, Loughrea and Galway city. The Dublin/Galway bus would be the most obvious to make these stops. I understand this matter will be investigated by Bus Éireann and the Garda in the Galway area.

The Minister mentioned that £2.2 billion is being allocated to public transport. That is a significant amount to invest in public transport. The Minister stated that this would provide a one-third increase in commuter seats during peak hours in the greater Dublin area. This indicates the success of the Minister in her efforts to obtain funds and I hope the investment will be of great benefit to those who use public transport.

Mr. O'Flynn

I support the amendment to the motion. The Fine Gael motion portrays the party's usual preoccupation with problems inside the Pale. This is the second time this year we are debating this issue.

The Minister has demonstrated her intent to address these problems throughout the country. We will all enjoy first class transport systems and roads in the new millennium. The Government has made a commitment to provide massive funding for all our national and non-national roads and for the total rail infrastructure. Change cannot take place overnight. There are at least one and a half million vehicles on our roads at present and this figure continues to increase. New vehicle sales records are at an all time high. We face traffic chaos in all our major cities.

Over the next seven years, the plan for an extensive upgrading of our national primary routes will ensure that traffic jams will cease to be a persistent problem. In that context, I am sure Members will give enthusiastic support to the Minister's proposals and not adopt a tunnel vision approach to them. I hope Members will share her clearly stated determination to tackle the transport and roads issue. The Minister is fully committed to a first class public transport system. She has already asked for and received the review of the medium term investment needs of CIE for both bus and rail services. Her decision to seek complementary funding for an improved public transport system which will benefit from the new roads infrastructure is a wise and prudent strategy. Those in opposition who criticise this approach would be well advised to consider their own non-performance in these related matters. Everyone has heard of the hurlers on the ditch and, judging by their performances tonight, a number of Members on the Opposition benches should get together to form an All-Ireland hurling team for next year.

Opposition Members cannot deny that the decision to give the public transport system a cash injection of £2.2 billion during the next seven years is timely. Neither can they deny that we will spend almost £2 million per day on our roads or that there will be a total investment of £4.7 billion. These are the facts. All the criticism in the world cannot diminish the commitment and dedication of the Minister and the Government.

During the summer, Deputy Coveney and I submitted a plan for an improved public transport system in the greater Cork area. A great deal of work was invested in the preparatory stages of our plan and we spoke to a number of representatives and organisations. In that context, we had lengthy discussions with Cork Corporation, Cork County Council, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, the Garda, Cork Chamber of Commerce and many other interested parties. This process of across the board consultation should ensure that the problems we face in Cork are clearly identified and quantified. This was the only route we could take.

Our joint submission to the Joint Committee on Public Enterprise was accepted and included in the public transport investment priorities for the millennium report which was published in the past two weeks. Furthermore, I made submissions to the Minister for Public Enterprise and the Taoiseach and am delighted the national development plan reflects the thrust of my input. Among the proposals I put forward are the computer control of Cork city and its environs, the upgrading of its roads, the expansion of the bus fleet and the introduction of a replacement programme. We have already received 16 new buses this year, with a further four to follow in the near future, and a substantial number will be provided in the year 2000. This is still not adequate but at least we are making progress. I proposed the upgrading of facilities at main bus stops, the provision of extra rail cars for Iarnród Éireann, the modernisation of the signalling system and recommended the provision of four new suburban stations. The proposal that a feasibility study be carried out into the possibility of establishing a light rail system on the southside of Cork city was the brainchild of Deputy Coveney.

These and many other suggestions were made by everyone who participated in our discussions. All of these initiatives will be among the final set of proposals which will put an end to our local problems. We cannot continue to ignore the traffic logjams that frequently occur in our city. Unfortunately, the delays these cause are partly due to the provision of new road structures. I ask that the funds being made available this year for next year's programme under the terms of the national development plan be passed on to the relevant local authorities as soon as possible, otherwise we may find that one part of the solution will create its own set of problems.

Advances resulting from improved roads and transport facilities will have a major impact on our daily lives. The benefits in the saving of travel time on road and rail are obvious. The accompanying health benefit of less stressful travel is more difficult to quantify but it is an obvious bonus. Another factor to which previous speakers referred is the time lost in transporting goods through a choked city road network. Improved surfaces on our highways will mean that there will be less wear and tear on vehicles, with an accompanying saving in maintenance costs.

I could continue to speak on this subject at length but I will conclude by highlighting the main transport plans for the Cork region. The national development plan provides £50 million for the upgrading of public transport in Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway, £75 million to replace 450 buses in the Bus Éireann fleet and £12 million to upgrade the regional transport system.

I thank the Minister and the Government for upgrading rail services in Cork and providing additional moneys for the city's bus fleet and I welcome her regional transport policy which was outlined in the national development plan.

Ms Hanafin

All Dublin Deputies agree on one thing, namely, that the city has come to a standstill. It comes to a standstill early in the morning, during the day and late at night. However, it must be noted that it has come to a standstill for those who still use private transport. The DART, quality bus corridors and the bus service work, but not for long enough, not early enough, not late enough and not for enough people. I welcome the investment that has already been made in this area and the allocation, in the national development plan, of £2.2 billion to be spent on public transport. This investment is needed in a wide variety of ways.

My constituency is very fortunate in that the people who live there have access to a number of DART stations. However, as previous speakers stated, DART carriages are overcrowded to such an extent that people become light headed or faint. The large numbers using the DART are in danger because they are not being provided with adequate facilities. Encouraging people to use the DART is creating further problems because we are saying "Bring your car as far as the DART station, abandon it wherever you like and take the train". The parking areas provided at stations are inadequate. The Government has not taken any responsibility for this because DART stations are situated in residential areas. Parking cars in the vicinity of DART stations is a nightmare for local residents and there is an urgent need to improve the feeder bus system from housing estates to DART stations to ensure that the numbers of cars abandoned in residential areas decreases.

The Minister has promised to provide an additional 46 carriages, at a cost of £53 million, for the DART. The sooner the better this happens because an accident will otherwise occur and people will lose faith in the DART. This will undermine the entire public transport system.

That we cannot have a single integrated ticket makes me question the equipment, the technology and the willingness of the companies to adapt. People are obliged to buy a ticket when they get on the bus, another when they take the DART and possibly a second bus ticket when they alight from the train. I agree with calls for the immediate introduction of an integrated ticketing system.

Deputy Yates earlier made a jest about Foxrock church. He should not have done so because the church provides a useful facility for approximately 200 people to park their cars each morning before they catch the bus.

Mr. Yates

I was not criticising Foxrock church.

Ms Hanafin

Problems only arise at the church when people arrive in their cars with a view to parking them and taking the bus and they are greeted by a large sign saying "Funeral today, no parking". Where do those people go then?

It is time the councils, the Departments and the various bodies negotiated with the church auth orities in Foxrock and Dalkey and on the Merrion Road because these churches have large car parks. At present, they are providing a service but receiving nothing in return. Perhaps there is a way in which the groups to whom I refer can work together.

The DART, the buses and the bus corridors are designed to help transport members of the public into town. They travel in by public transport and are abandoned late at night. What do we do then? We blame the taxi drivers who will not take them home. I welcome the Minister's announcement that extra taxis, which are much needed, will be provided immediately. Even I was amused by the Government's amendment to the motion which stated that we will introduce more taxis "progressively" and "as quickly as possible". I felt that those two phrases did not tally and I am delighted the Minister has pre-empted my words and announced the immediate provision of additional taxis.

When these taxis arrive on our streets, their owners should be made to work. Taxis should be available, day and night. When I got off the train in Limerick recently on my way to visit the regional hospital I had no trouble getting a taxi. I asked the driver how I could organise one for the return journey and he informed me that I would not be able to because the taxi drivers were going off to have their tea, have a few drinks and watch the match. Either taxi drivers provide a service or they do not. If they obtain licences on the understanding that they will provide a service, they must be made to provide it regardless of what sporting event is taking place.

Buses are of major importance throughout Dublin city for three reasons. First, the phrase "school bus" is an oxymoron. There is no such thing in Dublin. I have referred previously in the House to the Booterstown triangle, which comprises Merrion Avenue, Booterstown Avenue and the Rock Road. It is a small area which contains five first level schools, three second level schools and two third level colleges. At the same time every morning thousands of students clog up the public transport system because all of them are dropped at the same place. Buses are full on the Clonkeen Road but are empty when they reach Booterstown. It is time to facilitate a private bus scheme or to provide school buses in the Dublin area.

A second issue relating to buses is the lack of local routes. It is virtually impossible to get from Ballybrack to Loughlinstown Hospital, which is only a stone's throw away. If one was in the whole of one's health, one could walk there but most people attending the hospital are not in the best of health and must take a circuitous route to get there. These are small things which mean a great deal and a proper service should be provided in such communities. The Dún Laoighaire-Rathdown local authority area stretches, mar a deir siad fhéin, ó chuan go sliabh. A person has no hope of travelling from the cuan to the sliabh on public transport. If, say, a person lives in Black rock and works in Dundrum, he must get a bus into the city centre and another out to Dundrum if he starts early in the morning. There is also poor provision of circular routes. Dún Laoighaire Chamber of Commerce is examining these issues but they should be considered in the overall context of public transport.

Dublin City Chamber of Commerce has asked who is in control, and that is a fair question. The director of traffic is in charge of traffic but that is not the only problem. Last week, there was an hour and a half tailback in Enfield, County Meath, because of roadworks. There is a tailback in Johnstown, County Kilkenny, today because of tree cutting. Some days there are no taxis in Dublin city centre because all of them are stuck in Dublin Airport. These problems relate to traffic, roads, the environment and parks but who is in control? This question needs to be answered because one body must co-ordinate the various elements involved.

As Christmas approaches there are obvious problems. Initiatives were announced which will begin tomorrow. Dublin Bus will provide the Nitelink service and park and ride facilities will also be provided. I welcome the park and ride facility at Simmonscourt but it is in the wrong location. If one reaches Simmonscourt, one is practically in the city centre, having battled along the Rock Road. Perhaps, in future, negotiations will be undertaken with UCD which has a large amount of parking space that could be utilised. Students do not need the space early in the morning. People could then avail of the quality bus corridor to get into the city centre. A total of two ranks for the shared taxi initiative is not enough. Taxi drivers are the only people who will gain. The service will not begin until late at night. Do people have the right to refuse to share with people who are too drunk, spaced or sick?

Santa has made a special request that he should be given a dispensation for himself and his reindeers to use the quality bus corridors on Christmas Eve or he will never get his gifts delivered.

Mr. Coveney

I wish to share my time with Deputies Currie, Flanagan, Farrelly, Timmins, Stanton and Naughten.

An Ceann Comhairle

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Coveney

I refer to public transport concerns outside the Dublin area and I thank Deputies Yates and Mitchell for their work in highlighting public transport problems in Ireland. I am encouraged that Deputy O'Flynn is so confident that the Minister will implement everything that we have asked for in Cork, in terms of public transport. However, it is hard to be as optimistic as he is when one examines the Government's abysmal record there over the past two years.

Traffic congestion and other transport related problems seriously impede the quality of life of citizens in Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Cork, but I will concentrate on the latter. Unlike other parts of the country, Cork has planned and provided for growth quite well from an infrastructural point of view. An integrated land use and transportation study has been pursued since the late 1970s resulting in the expenditure of more than £300 million, much of it from the EU, to complete a ring road around the city and the Lee Tunnel. However, the public transport aspect of the LUTS, which should have been financed by various Governments, has not been implemented. Recognising this, a report entitled "Cork Public Transport Investment Review" was recently completed by a group comprising representatives of Cork Corporation, Cork County Council, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Eireann and the Garda, all of which must deal with traffic congestion on a daily basis in the city. The proposed expenditure in respect of this is £36 million, which is not a high price to pay when one considers that it would mean that traffic and congestion problems would be brought under control in Ireland's second largest city by providing a proper public transport service in terms of bus and rail.

The bus fleet needs most immediate attention. Buses in Cork city are between 12 and 14 years old. Some buses which brought me into the city centre when I was a teenager are still used today. This will hardly encourage people to leave their cars at home and take the bus instead. If we are serious about promoting the use of buses as an alternative to cars, a modern bus fleet that is accessible to everybody must first be provided. Bus Éireann cannot provide the efficient, clean and punctual service required if it does not have the buses to do so. A total of £10.2 million must be spent on fleet acquisition in Cork, thus increasing the number of buses from 63 to 83. The seven or eight new buses acquired this year replaced old buses which were ready for the scrapheap.

New routes are desperately needed to service areas that have experienced massive population growth. Towns, such as Carrigaline and Ballincollig, are classic examples of satellite towns where population has increased dramatically but which are still served by the same bus routes. I often ask Bus Éireann to provide extra routes but they ask me to show them the buses because if I did, they would provide the routes. The Minister is the only person who can provide buses.

Investment is necessary for park and ride facilities. Cork is perhaps the most glaring example, other than Dublin, of a centre which would benefit from such a system. The city is surrounded by a ring road and most problems occur inside it as traffic tries to enter and exit the city centre. If proper parking facilities were provided on the outskirts of the city, people would park their cars and take a bus to the city centre along a quality bus corridor. There is proof that Cork people will avail of park and ride facilities. On Saturday mornings a successful and busy park and ride system is in place on the south side of the city but it cannot be implemented during week days because resources are not available. Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann are willing to implement new systems but lack of resources is a problem. The Government announced that it will spend a great deal in this area but I will not believe it until I see the benefits on the railways and the streets.

Mr. Currie

Given the short time available to me, I make no apologies for being parochial. There are two growth areas in my constituency, one near Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, and the other in Lucan, and I am told on good authority that more houses are being built in those areas than in any other comparable area in the European Union. One might expect me to receive complaints about housing or social welfare, but I receive more complaints about traffic than any other issue.

On the face of it, people in Dublin 15 are extremely lucky because a railway line goes through that part of the constituency on the Connolly to Maynooth route. The solution to the traffic problems of the area is the existence of the railway line. The chairman of CIE is on record as saying with regard to proposals for development that it is the best value for money proposal in the entire country. However, the reality is total under-utilisation The service is extremely poor. The timetable for 2000 shows that only 24 trains will run on weekdays, 17 on Saturdays and there will be no trains on Sundays or bank holidays. This is total under-utilisation of the service. We are aware of difficulties on the DART but one can imagine the situation when there is unlikely to be trains for three days over Christmas and four days around the new year on the railway line through the constituency.

There is no train from Connolly station between 5.52 p.m. and 9 o' clock. There is a wait of three hours and eight minutes if one misses the train at 5.52 p.m. The result is overcrowding and I have raised the consequent dangers of that on a number of occasions. I previously raised the danger of overcrowding particularly on the 8.05 a.m. train which is invariably late. It is packed before it reaches Coolmine, Clonsilla and Castleknock and people cannot get on. I also highlighted a recent case at Tara Street station where a blind man, his dog and his blind wife were forced off the platform. People are forced together like sardines and there are no safety standards in operation. This is scandalous and should be dealt with urgently.

I welcome the decision made 16 months ago to reallocate funding which was originally earmarked for the Luas project to this line. I also welcome the work which has been done since, but there is already a double line between Connolly station and Clonsilla. Why is this not being utilised to provide more trains and reduce the dangerous overcrowding to which I referred?

I am disappointed that the development plan contains no proposals for the extension of the railway line to the Blanchardstown town centre where it could then be further extended to serve the new institute of education and on to Dublin Airport. If there were such a facility from Connolly to Maynooth, one would reasonably think that it would be utilised to the fullest extent and that a new branch would be developed to cater for the Dublin 15 area, including the new town centre at Blanchardstown and beyond where the population is approaching 100,000 and is likely to reach 120,000 within the next five years. However, apparently, that will not be the case and I am greatly disappointed that it is not included in the development plan. A forward looking, progressive Minister would have thought in those terms and seized that opportunity.

Mr. Flanagan

I wish to make a number of points in relation to traffic and transportation difficulties in my constituency of Laois-Offaly. I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Yates, on his call for a White Paper on public transport. It is essential that the way is cleared for the preparation and publication of such a paper at the earliest opportunity because it is clear that the Minister, Deputy O'Rourke, has no vision of the needs of the people with regard to public transport into the next century.

I wish to refer to the rail service and the lack of public transport along a north-west south-east axis in my constituency. The attitude of Iarnród Éireann to commuters in the midlands, with particular reference to the towns of Tullamore, Clara, Portarlington and Portlaoise, is to be deplored. Iarnród Éireann has been strangled by the Minister. These towns dispatch over 1,000 commuters each morning to Dublin and they return home each evening tired, frustrated and annoyed with the service currently being provided. To add insult to injury, Iarnród Éireann recently reformed its timetable which resulted in a reduced evening service to Portlaoise and added a further 20 minute delay to return travel time on this run from Dublin which should take 55 minutes.

This is outrageous at a time when Dublin city is choked with traffic and policies are supposedly being introduced by the Government to provide incentives or invitations to people to use other forms of public transport. Iarnród Éireann, because of the treatment of commuters in the midlands, is forcing people by the hundreds into their cars.

There are 2,000 houses under construction in Portlaoise. These will be completed within the next 18 months and there is massive development in Mountmellick, Portarlington and Stradbally. Many owners and occupiers of these houses work in Dublin and their ideal choice of transport to work is by rail. Unfortunately, the Government is turning its back on these consumers by its total failure to provide visionary proposals to Iarnród Éireann. The Minister in reply to parliamentary questions said she has no responsibility. She is prepared to wash her hands of the public trans port system. This is shameful on her part. I have received complaints from constituents that trains are overcrowded. They are late, cold in winter, hot in summer and dirty but the Minister stated that she has no official responsibility in this regard. There appears to be a total lack of accountability in Iarnród Éireann, a body which urgently needs to get its act together.

There is no public transportation axis on a north-west south-east line at a time when regional policies should be developed to move industry and commercial developments away from the east coast. How can this be done if it is impossible to travel from one end of my constituency to another because there is no public transport? There is one bus, which probably travels once a week, from Deputy Yates's constituency to Deputy Perry's Sligo constituency and there is no rail service. One can only get a bus in my constituency if one is travelling to or from Dublin, although there is talk about the Government's attitude to move development away from the capital. I welcome the motion and I am pleased to contribute to the debate. I congratulate Deputy Yates on his initiative in this regard.

Mr. Farrelly

I also support the motion. I wish to refer to the problem of buses which leave Navan full and fail to stop at Bus Éireann stops en route. Last week a number of people who were at Garlow Cross, three miles outside the town, contacted the local radio station to complain that buses did not stop there as they were full leaving the town. Transport across the length and breadth of the greater Dublin area and in the midlands is in crisis. There is not one bus shelter in Navan, Kells or any of the other towns in the county. Bus Éireann has refused consistently to provide access, even on a once a week basis, to villages across the northern end of the county.

We are told that the train service will be reintroduced in Navan. That will be welcome. When does the Minister expect work to commence on that?

Two weeks ago I had occasion to travel by rail to Wexford. One hour out from Connolly Station, I asked for a cup of coffee. The attendant said he had no hot water. I asked him for Coke. There was none. I asked him for orange juice. There was none. I asked him whether the Minister for Public Enterprise knew he was out. That is an indication of how bad is the service on our transport system. There is no heat on the trains. Passengers, including elderly people, are asked to tolerate freezing conditions. That is deplorable. One morning last week, travelling to the House, it took me 35 minutes to get from the top to the bottom of O'Connell Street. Transport in the capital, under this Minister, is a total shambles. Deputy Hanafin could well have been speaking from these benches, given her criticism of the service, which is diabolical, even in her constituency.

Mr. Timmins

In the time available to me I would like to refer to some matters which are linked to the motion and which impinge on commuters travelling to Dublin from Wicklow. Over recent years the population of Wicklow has increased dramatically. It now stands at more than 100,000 with further large increases forecast in the immediate years ahead. There are two main routes into Dublin, the N11 in the east and the N81 in the west. The N11 is the busier of these and caters for a large number of commuters and industrial export and import linked traffic. To cater for the large population in the north-east of the county, many of whom work in Dublin, a DART line was provided to Bray. Following much effort and campaigning, the former rainbow Government gave the green light to have this service extended to Greystones. In July 1996 the European Commission approved assistance from the Cohesion Fund for this extension. In October 1996 the then Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications indicated that the DART service to Greystones would be operational by the end of 1998. There were some delays. However, it was anticipated that the latest start date would be late summer in 1999. We have now almost reached the year's end and service is still in the wrapper, and this despite the assurance given that the Department is closely monitoring the project to ensure maximum progress.

I would like the Minister of State with responsibility for tourism and sport to bring back the message to the Minister for Public Enterprise that monitoring has not worked. According to the Minister we can expect 16 new carriages for delivery in the coming year. The national development plan refers to the phased purchase of 46 additional DART cars and an increased DART capacity of 39 per cent at 7,400 additional places. This sounds very good, but I seriously question the ability of the Government to oversee these projects in view of the fact that, after two and a half years in office, the service to Greystones is not in operation. It is regrettable that the Chairman of Wicklow County Council, Councillor George Jones, who received much acclaim from all sides had, on his own initiative, to take on the role of mediator as the Department of Public Enterprise washed its hands of the affair. I question whether the political will or ability is there to address this difficulty.

Traffic coming into Dublin on the N81 through Tallaght has increased in line with other areas. When roadworks were being carried out on the Naas dual carriageway much traffic crossed over from Saggart to use this route and continues to do so.

The Luas project on the Tallaght to Abbey Street line is due for completion in the winter of 2002. I note that the end terminal will be in the Square in Tallaght, in a constituency with which the Minister of State is familiar. Without going into the details of the various Luas reports, we should consider again the siting of this terminal. At present it takes more than one hour to get to the city centre from Tallaght. A huge proportion of the passengers in these cars would use the Luas service, but only if they have access and a parking facility. Having being held up in traffic in the Square at Tallaght a couple of Fridays ago I cannot envisage an end-of-line Luas terminal proving attractive here, even if there are multi-storey car parks. It should be positioned somewhere towards the Embankment, where commuters would have access to it. I am sure the Minister would agree that it is nonsensical to put a terminal in the middle of the Square.

I wish to briefly refer to taxis. One small point has been brought to my attention by constituents. It is the practice of what I am sure is a very small proportion of taxi drivers, on discovering that a fare has to go to the outskirts of the city, to make an excuse and refuse to take the passenger as it may entail a loss of income. It happens, and I would like to know whether the Minister has any plans to address this problem in a realistic manner.

I welcome this motion, but it would appear that one has a greater chance of moving mid-evening traffic in the city centre than of moving the Minister to take action.

Mr. Stanton

We are all agreed that we must move from cars to public transport. I congratulate my colleagues on bringing this motion before the House this evening. What is required is a change of mind-set. In order to encourage people to change from using their cars to public transport, we must be able to offer them a service that will enable them to get around safely, quickly, cheaply, on time and in comfort. Delays are unacceptable.

Let me give some examples. When people get off in Dublin from the train from Cork, in order to get a bus they have to queue up and buy tickets. That should not be necessary. They should be able to buy the tickets at the point of departure in Cork, and likewise around the country. That is one example of people being delayed and inconvenienced unnecessarily, and discouraged from using public transport.

I should refer briefly to the need for public transport in my area as other Deputies have done. The train station in Cork badly needs to be upgraded and modernised. I understand that is to be done, but I ask the Minister to move quickly on the work. It has to be done soon or people will not use it. There is a major problem with parking in Cork at present. I have been in contact with Iarnród Éireann about this. It seems that 80 per cent of car parking spaces in Cork have been franchised out to corporate users. That means ordinary commuters cannot get a parking space. That is ridiculous. Iarnród Éireann has assured me it is going to get more spaces. I ask the Minister to call on Iarnród Éireann to find out what is going on. If people cannot park their cars they will not use the trains. In this the Year of the Elderly older people have a problem – they can not get on the buses because the steps are too high. Many of them cannot get on trains. It may sound simple, but for an older person with arthritis it is very serious, and it needs to be examined.

I have mentioned the train station at Midleton many times. The feasibility study on this has not even started. Will the Minister ensure the study gets under way and that no obstacle is put in the way? If this project goes ahead it has to be attractive to people if they are to be encouraged to use it. They have to be able to park their cars. I ask the Minister to look at that. It is important.

If Frank Hall were around today, he would have a great time with taxis in Dublin. He would have a skeleton standing alongside the taxi rank with cobwebs. In his time he did that in connection with buses. Now there is a problem with taxis. One cannot get a taxi at peak hours. Do the drivers go off for their tea? The Government is talking about commitment and so on. I cannot understand why it does not accept this motion, which is very sensible, instead of bringing in a wishy-washy, soapy-watery amendment, welcoming this, noting that and doing nothing. It is time we had action. People are being discommoded and are getting angry. This is a national crisis so, to paraphrase Percy French, "are you right, there, Minister, are you right?"

Mr. Naughten

The school transport service has been developed until recently without reference to the more general transport needs in local communities. In recent years Bus Éireann has begun to use a small number of school buses to provide a transport service in rural areas. However, in the main these buses have been used for a short time every day during the school year, resulting in high unit costs. This valuable resource is under used. Old age pensioners who have free travel passes are unable to use this facility due to the lack of public transport in many communities. Where possible, school buses should be used for rural services as this would maximise the use of these buses and encourage operators to invest in a higher standard of vehicle. A community transport service in rural areas could provide a range of services to meet the needs of local communities. Such a service could be developed as a voluntary-State partnership. Communities could identify their own needs, including bringing older people shopping, to the doctor and to day-care facilities and providing access for people with disabilities. Costs could then be spread over a wider range of users and this would contribute to the cost of the maintenance of the fleet. For such a service to become operable it is important for the State to provide funding to initiate such developments.

A new approach is also required for the proposed new regional growth centres. While the Minister is planning major investment in the public transport system in Dublin there is little in the national development plan regarding public transport for other cities or new growth centres. The Minister's home town of Athlone has been designated a growth centre and has the potential for the development of public transport with four rail lines meeting in the centre of the town. Has the Minister given any consideration to the provision of a proper commuter service for the town which could easily service the towns of Castlerea, Roscommon, Ballinasloe, Longford, Mullingar and Tullamore. Athlone is already experiencing traffic jams on the roads entering the town from these locations. This story can be repeated in many other urban centres where the infrastructure is there but the foresight and imagination is not. People are commuting daily to Galway from counties Clare, Roscommon and Mayo and from Tuam. The rail line is there but still there is no commuter service to Galway city. Are we to continue to keep the focus on the provision of additional infrastructure in the capital, much of which is urgently required, but at the same time neglect other centres inevitably leading to further congestion and the further demand for infrastructural investment in Dublin. Dublin needs investment but continuing the current band-aid approach to public transport investment will not solve the problem. It will merely magnify the current chaos.

The Government has more money than any previous Government but it is being spread around like confetti without a structured plan. Bus Éireann does not have the resources to provide a satisfactory service. Major towns are served by Bus Éireann but there is not a service for the villages along the routes. Buses pass through at speed. It is an express way or no way.

There is serious overcrowding on our trains but the Government does nothing about this. I congratulate the Minister on upgrading the rail lines but this is only being done because serious safety implications forced her to do it.

Mr. N. Ahern

I wish to share my time with the Minister of State, Deputy Wallace.

I was amused to hear Deputy Mitchell talk about the need for public transport. Early in September when the Stillorgan quality bus corridor was opened she and Deputy Owen were not simply running with the pack in opposition to it, they were leading it. There is no point in calling on the Government to do something about a problem and then, when the Government takes action, leading the rabble in criticising it. I realise this happened at the end of the silly season and it was an easy way to get on television.

Mr. Yates

Like Deputy Callely and the taxis and refugees.

Mr. N. Ahern

I have a vested interest in public transport because I worked for CIE for 25 years and my interest has not been acquired recently.

Mrs. Owen

The less said about that the better.

Mr. N. Ahern

I recall that when Deputy Jim Mitchell was Minister with responsibility for public transport many of us were very worried about our jobs because he allocated very little money to the company and made it clear that the fleet would not be replaced.

Mrs. Owen

The Deputy has a good job here now.

Mr. N. Ahern

I thank the Deputy and hope I can keep it.

The economy has been booming in recent years and one of the by-products of this is extra traffic. There is a great increase in car ownership and in tourism and leisure activities. The economy is booming. Dublin is a very old city and one cannot click one's fingers and have it absorb the great amount of new traffic. Traffic management and the enforcement of regulations help but one cannot wave a magic wand and make everything right. We must make it very clear that everyone cannot bring their cars into the city every day because an old city cannot absorb them.

We must change people's attitudes. The DART and suburban rail services have always had a public image in Dublin while the bus did not, perhaps because it did not have a reputation as a good quality and reliable service. Quality bus corridors are necessary and we must stand up to the vested interests who complain about them. We all agree with QBCs in theory but objections inevitably surface at local level. It is difficult to get contractors, private businesses have headhunted some of the top local authority engineers and the project is meeting problems at all stages. This is the fault neither of the DTO nor of the Government because the one thing that is not lacking is money. We have invested millions in Luas and other aspects of public transport. I am in favour of Luas but often a greater effect can be gained by more modest spending on buses. Dublin Bus was provided with extra buses last year but more are needed. I am glad to see that 270 new buses are lined up for Dublin.

I welcome this evening's announcement on taxis.

Mr. Yates

The Deputy has spent the last two and a half years opposing it.

Mr. N. Ahern

As a member of the local authority taxi crew for the last two and a half years I did my best—

Mr. Yates

The Deputy has been shafted. Last week it was Deputy O'Donnell. This week it is Deputy Ahern. I am enjoying this.

Mr. N. Ahern

We have been trying to find a way to put extra taxis on the road while not wiping out the investments that people had made. Other people in this House did not express sympathy for people who had remortgaged their houses to buy taxi plates for £80,000 and stood to have their investment devalued. That has not been my point of view. If someone remortgaged his house to invest £80,000 in a taxi plate we have a duty to protect that person and not throw him on the scrap heap. If the device announced by the Government tonight puts 2,000 plus taxis on the road—

Mr. Stagg

It is 3,100.

Mr. N. Ahern

—while at the same time protecting the investment of those who have bought taxi plates, I welcome that. It will take some months for matters to settle down. It is easy to make an announcement but the operation of it will take some time to commence and it will take some time for new taxi licences to be issued.

Mr. Yates

The Deputy is fighting a rearguard action. He has been shafted.

Mr. N. Ahern

It will take time for the value of plates to settle down. There will be more taxis on the road.

Mrs. Owen

More taxis with Deputy Callely's name on the back.

Mr. N. Ahern

The committee on which Deputy Mitchell and I serve has been very successful. This year we have put 350 taxis and 1,000 hackneys on the road and we have introduced a taxi sharing scheme.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Allow the Deputy to conclude. I understand he is sharing time with his colleagues.

Mr. N. Ahern

I still think we should record it. Obviously the Government thinks it is slow and is moving on to a different plane and there will be more progress next year.

Mr. Yates

The Deputy will be redundant tonight.

Mrs. Owen

He is on the scrapheap.

Mr. Yates

He got his scrappage.

Mrs. Owen

He got a slap on the wrist from his own brother.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace)

It is clear from the debate that there is a cross-party consensus on the need for major investment in public transport and for a substantial improvement in the quality of public transport services. The challenges we are facing today arise from two main factors: the lack of investment in public transport by successive Governments over a long period, and the sheer pace and scale of economic growth and development in recent years.

The national development plan has set out a coherent and comprehensive strategy for the development of public transport over the next seven years. The national plan provides for £1.6 billion in investment in the greater Dublin area, covering not only Dublin but Wicklow, Meath and Kildare. That programme provides for an integrated package of measures. A sum of £220 million will be spent on developing the bus service as the core of the public transport system. The objective is to develop a much denser and more effective bus network, comprising radial, orbital, local and feeder services. This includes the provision of better bus services to the development centres identified in the strategic planning guidelines and the provision of local services in those centres.

A sum of £185 million will be spent on maximising the capacity of the existing suburban rail network. A contingency provision has also been included for the implementation of a longer term strategic rail programme. A study which will outline the shape of this programme is nearing completion. Some £430 million has been allocated to implement the surface element of the light rail network approved by the Government in May 1998. A contingency provision has been made for the underground section, on which geotechnical studies will be completed by the end of the year. A sum of £50 million has been allocated for integration measures – park and ride, integrated ticketing and public transport interchange. A sum of £200 million has been provided for traffic management measures, including five additional quality bus corridors. All of this strategy is based on the land use framework provided by the strategic planning guidelines.

The national plan also set out a clear investment strategy for regional public transport, involving a capital expenditure of £650 million. Some £500 million of this will be spent on the mainline rail network, guaranteeing its place in the country's transportation system. Of this, £350 million will be spent on completing the five year railway safety programme and £150 million on upgrading and renewing the network. A total of £150 million will be spent on improving bus and rail services in the cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Some £87 million is being allocated to replace the Bus Éireann fleet and to upgrade regional bus transport. A sum of £10 million is being provided to improve accessibility to existing public transport, where this is not being addressed elsewhere in the overall programme. Some £3.5 million is available for pilot rural transport initiatives.

The Government has also taken a range of other initiatives to improve public transport. Implementation of the DTO short-term action plan is well under way and is increasing the capacity of the public transport system very significantly. The Government is providing very substantial Exchequer capital funding for public transport, something which was not done by previous Governments. The capital Estimate for 2000 is £235 million. The subvention for public transport will be increased by 6 per cent in 2000, well ahead of the rate of inflation. The Government has acted on the commitment given in the revised programme, An Action Programme for the Millennium, in relation to the issue of taxi supply in Dublin by the announcement tonight of an increase of some 3,100 in the number of taxis in the Dublin taximeter area by the end of 2000. An urgent review of the regulation of the bus market has begun with a view to introducing competition in bus public transport in Dublin.

The decision to establish a Cabinet committee on infrastructure emphasises the importance which the Government attaches to the infrastructural investment. Transport will be a particular focus of that committee's deliberations. It sends the clearest possible signal of the Government's determination to improve the quality of the public transport system.

I commend the Government amendment to the House.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I understand Deputy Clune is sharing time with Senators Fitzgerald, Bradford, Owen and Yates.

Ms Clune

That is correct. I support the motion tabled by my colleagues Deputies John Bruton, Yates and Olivia Mitchell and, in particular, the part which refers to the franchising out of bus routes to the private sector where Bus Éireann is currently not providing a service. I strongly believe that service will have to be provided. Other speakers have referred to work carried out under the Road Transport Act, 1932, by the previous Government but we do not see any results under the present Administration.

There are a number of areas in my constituency where Bus Éireann cannot provide the required service. Acres of housing is being provided, people are moving in, there are two-car families, no bus service and no provision for such a service. In one area after a long wrangle there was a promise from Bus Éireann to provide an Imp service, a feeder bus into the local Douglas village, but almost three years later management, Bus Éireann and the unions cannot come to an agreement to provide that service. We have the phan- tom bus stops in that area and no bus service. I am informed by the local Bus Éireann manager that the recommendations laid down by the Labour Court have again been rejected by the proposed operators of these buses.

There are numerous routes around the country where buses which are full pass school children at the bus stops. The passengers that should be collected along the route are left standing because there is not an alternative bus service. A bus driver, with whom I spoke recently, said all the overtime he wants is available to him because there are not enough drivers. I read an article in The Irish Times today, written by Eamon Timmins, in which he described the Arrow service in Dublin and how the 9.25 a.m. train did not turn up one morning simply because the driver was not available so that passengers were asked to wait for the 10.45 a.m. train. That is the type of third level transport service that operates here. I live in this city three days a week, as do many others in the House. It is frustrating to be dependent on public transport. There is no direct public transport link to the airport. We are dependent on taxis. I am delighted to hear the announcement by the Government tonight and I hope it will increase the options available to visitors to the city. Until there is a transport link between the city centre and Dublin Airport we are going nowhere near providing a public transport service in the city. I strongly urge that such a service be considered.

Ms Fitzgerald

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important motion on public tranport. One of the key challenges facing the Government is to develop a proper transport policy. It has abysmally failed, since coming to office, to realise the urgency of the issue and the huge impact it is having on the quality of people's lives throughout Ireland but particularly in Dublin.

I congratulate Deputies Yates and Olivia Mitchell for the way in which they have highlighted this issue over the past year and made a range of suggestions of policy initiatives which, if put into practice, would have made a difference. Unfortunately, most of them have not been taken up. The Government has been characterised by very slow action in seeing the problem and beginning to do something about it.

Many of my constituents live in flats and apartments. They find that every day there is a new change in respect of traffic management outside their homes. Yellow lines and residential disc parking have been introduced and they have lost traditional parking spaces. This is inevitable in a city such as Dublin which is growing. The problem is that while these people have no places to park their cars they do not have the choice of a proper public transport system to which they can turn. This is one of the real problems. It is extremely unfair to put pressure on city dwellers when they are not being offered an alternative.

There is no doubt that the Northern Ireland peace process will increase the volume of tourist traffic into Dublin and the worldwide coverage of the setting up of the Assemly will boost the numbers visiting the entire country. What we will find is that many incoming tour operators will cover the North from Dublin and while this is welcome it will add a large amount of extra heavy traffic to an already gridlocked city. Dublin is virtually unique in Ireland in not having a single coach park for tourist buses. Many are forced to drive around the city aimlessly while waiting to pick up a tour, adding even further to the gridlock. This is another example of a very poor transport policy initiative. It causes problems throughout my constituency in the south inner city, yet no action has been taken to deal with it. Surely an initiative could have been taken at a time when there are increasing numbers of tourists and coaches in the city.

It is clear that more urgent traffic measures are required to deal with the extra 1,000 cars coming onto the streets of Dublin every week. Traffic calming measures are far too slow and more money must be allocated here. Perhaps public service car parks should be opened up.

What will parking be like over the Christmas? Will there be adequate spaces and should initiatives not be taken to ease the situation? While some people need their cars for work, many commuters would use public transport if a proper system was available. This is clear from the introduction of the QBC in Stillorgan where the number using public transport has dramatically increased. This must be replicated all over the city in an effective way. More park and ride facilities are also needed. It is ridiculous that there is no co-ordination between the Dublin authorities to ensure we have the kind of facilities we need. The QBCs have been introduced without them.

The initiative on taxis is welcome, although it is happening very late. How many extra taxis will be available in the city? Many people have been put in danger at night because of the lack of taxis.

Mr. Bradford

I support the motion. We are debating public transport in the absence of a proper public transport policy. Speaker after speaker has referred to the grossly overcrowded trains, the inadequate buses, from both a quality and quantity point of view, and the almost invisible service provided by taxis when they are most needed. We need a strategy not only from the Minister for Public Enterprise but from the Government.

If the Government lasts for the next two years or so there will inevitably be a reshuffle and I call on the Taoiseach to appoint a Minister for Public Transport or, failing that, a Minister of State to take full charge of this hugely important area. Other Government colleagues also have a role to play. The Minister for Finance has promised a decentralisation programme. If it is implemented quickly people can be moved to provincial areas. This will help to resolve some of the huge urban sprawl problems. The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment must encourage flexible working hours to avoid the situation where 250,000 people travel to work in Dublin at the same time every morning. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government can do much more from a planning perspective to develop our regional and provincial centres.

I support Deputy Stanton's remarks on public transport in the east Cork area. The railway station at Midleton should be reopened along with the Midleton to Cork line and, I hope in the next century, the Cork to Youghal line. That is what the development of public transport is about. If we want to use the £2.8 billion effectively we must ensure that public transport is a reality in every townland in the country.

Mrs. Owen

I make no apologies for being parochial in saying a word for the beleaguered northsiders. We have bus lanes with no buses, no park and ride facilities, a minimal attempt at orbital buses and traffic lights that nobody knows what they are for and who they are guiding. There are no taxi ranks in any of the suburban towns from Malahide to Swords and Skerries because of rows in Dublin Corporation. Hackneys provide a good service but they cannot use the bus lanes, nor can they go to Dublin Airport to pick up passengers. A special ramp for people in wheelchairs and mothers with buggies was installed at Malahide railway station but it cannot be opened because of the lack of staff. It is a white elephant. Wheelchair accessible taxi licences have been issued but they are not being used for wheelchair users. A person might get a wheelchair taxi if he/she telephones from home but there is no chance of getting one home. A woman from the Centre for Independent Living told me she did not get home one morning until 4 o'clock. She had to traverse the city in her wheelchair in the middle of the night in winter trying to get a taxi.

I quote from a description of travelling by train I received from a commuter. It says everything about a service which involves over 10,000 journeys every week from the commuter line in Balbriggan into Dublin city. People are crammed into trains like cattle. God only knows what will happen if there is a crash. It is called "A Commuter's Tale" and it states:

Arrive Malahide Station 9.05. Announcement that the 9.12 train is running 20 minutes late due to obscure problem in Drogheda. Wise travellers rush for the exits, more trusting suffer 20 minutes delay while reading about the billions to be invested in the railways by the year dot. A further announcement 20 minutes later. Train will not now arrive in Rush and Lusk, although we are standing in Malahide, for yet another 20 minutes. Remaining hordes, save a few, head for the exits. Just as the hordes have vacated, the 9.12 train, yes, the same 9.12 train, trundles in but does not stop. It did not appear any more crammed than usual, and would certainly have accommodated the few remaining passengers having managed to get rid of the rest. No wet leaves on the tracks this morning. Could it be that the engine is not powerful enough to pull any more passengers? Why were we not told the full story from the outset – train would be 20 minutes late but would be so full it would not accommodate any more bodies? The vacators, second lot, did not even have the pleasure of noting that the 9.12 train arrived and whizzed through their station but did not stop.

Thirty five minutes later, that is, 20 minutes to Rush and Lusk plus 15 minutes to Malahide, the Belfast train makes unscheduled stop to pick up the trusting few who are then whisked into Connolly Station in luxury and style. Announcements apologise for the late running of the train due to etc., etc. Commuters must then walk from one end of Connolly to the other end in order to catch a DART to Pearse, which was the original destination. Mini consolation: many familiar faces on the DART among those who vacated Malahide Station. Arrive in the office confused and disorientated.

Minister, you are presiding over some Mickey Mouse operation at present. Try it sometime. These billions will come too late for me.

That says it all. It is what the Minister is presiding over.

Mr. Yates

I thank all my colleagues for their detailed contributions. They outline the realities of public transport in the country. I also thank the Labour Party and my colleagues in the Opposition for their support of the motion.

I hope Ministers are listening to this debate because if they move away from their set piece roster of announcement after announcement they will have heard the reality of what people face in commuting terms. It includes overcrowding, lack of service, no competition, under-investment and a city and a group of cities becoming ever more paralysed by the lack of public transport.

We are repeatedly told the mantra that the national development plan will solve all these problems. That is a myth. The plan is to be implemented over seven years. There are 1.5 million cars in the country and an extra 1,000 cars per week come on stream. We cannot wait seven years. There is no timetable for the implementation of the plan.

With regard to taxis, why did we have to wait two and half years for Deputy Noel Ahern and Deputy Callely to be shafted? Why did the people of Dublin have to put up with a situation where a vested interest group was propped up politically in a disgraceful fashion? The announcement tonight is long overdue.

Mr. D. Wallace

Does the Deputy not welcome it?

Mr. Yates

I welcome it, but it is a minimalist response. We will insist that this issue is dealt with head on. It cannot be delayed. There is no Minister for Transport and no Minister with responsibility for transport spoke in this debate. The Government is all over the place because different people have different responsibilities.

The economic efficiency of the country is grinding to a halt because of traffic gridlock. For many commuters the rush hour now starts before 7 o'clock in the morning and in the evening it goes on past 7 o'clock. The quality of life for people living in larger urban areas speaks for itself, never mind the problems of rural transport and the gross deficiencies in the rail service, including inter-city services.

Public transport is a public service. Public services are the responsibility of politics and politicians. We are determined to make this an election issue. This is the third Christmas this Government has presided over traffic paralysis. It is nearly time we moved on. We will make sure this is the key issue at the next election.

Mr. D. Wallace

There are not too many other issues of which to make an issue.

Amendment put.

Tá

Ahern, Dermot.Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Andrews, David.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Harry.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Brennan, Matt.Brennan, Séamus.Briscoe, Ben.Browne, John (Wexford).Callely, Ivor.Carey, Pat.

Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Coughlan, Mary.Cowen, Brian.Cullen, Martin.Daly, Brendan.Davern, Noel.de Valera, Síle.Dennehy, John.Ellis, John.Fleming, Seán.Flood, Chris.Fox, Mildred.Gildea, Thomas. Tá–continued

Hanafin, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Healy-Rae, Jackie.Jacob, Joe.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.Kenneally, Brendan.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Séamus.Kitt, Michael.Lawlor, Liam.Lenihan, Brian.Lenihan, Conor.McCreevy, Charlie.McDaid, James.McGennis, Marian.McGuinness, John.Martin, Micheál.Moffatt, Thomas.Molloy, Robert.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.

Moynihan, Michael.Ó Cuív, Éamon.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Hanlon, Rory.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Malley, Desmond.O'Rourke, Mary.Power, Seán.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wade, Eddie.Wallace, Dan.Walsh, Joe.Woods, Michael.Wright, G. V.

Níl

Allen, Bernard.Barnes, Monica.Barrett, Seán.Bell, Michael.Boylan, Andrew.Bradford, Paul.Broughan, Thomas.Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).Bruton, Richard.Burke, Liam.Burke, Ulick.Carey, Donal.Clune, Deirdre.Connaughton, Paul.Cosgrave, Michael.Coveney, Simon.Creed, Michael.Currie, Austin.D'Arcy, Michael.Deasy, Austin.Durkan, Bernard.Farrelly, John.Finucane, Michael.Fitzgerald, Frances.Flanagan, Charles.Gilmore, Éamon.Gormley, John.

Hayes, Brian.Higgins, Michael.Hogan, Philip.Howlin, Brendan.Kenny, Enda.McGrath, Paul.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Gay.Mitchell, Olivia.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Noonan, Michael.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Owen, Nora.Perry, John.Quinn, Ruairí.Reynolds, Gerard.Ryan, Seán.Sheehan, Patrick.Shortall, Róisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy.Upton, Mary.Yates, Ivan.

Tellers: Tá, Deputies S. Brennan and Power; Níl, Deputies Stagg and Barrett.

Amendment declared carried.

Question, "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to", put and declared carried.