Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 5 Nov 2003

Vol. 573 No. 4

Written Answers. - Public Transport.

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

271 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Transport his views on the recent judgment by the European Court of Justice that public subsidies to bus companies do not constitute State aid; and his further views on whether this has implications for his proposal to privatise 25% of the Dublin Bus network. [25656/03]

Minister for Transport (Mr. Brennan)

The European Court of Justice, in the recent ruling referred to by the Deputy, clarified the rules regarding state aid and public subsidies paid for local public transport services. The European Court of Justice set down in its judgment certain conditions which must be complied with if public subsidies paid for the performance of public service obligations are not to constitute state aid.

I understand that the ruling is being examined by the European Commission, which intends to issue a formal communication on it in the near future. The clarification provided by the ruling regarding state aid and public service obligations is to be welcomed. This clarification and the formal communication from the Commission will assist me in the formulation of policy for the regulatory reform of public transport.

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

272 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Transport the amount of money invested by the State in public transport on an annual basis; the way in which this compares with the amount of money invested by other EU countries in similar public transport systems; the percentage of costs met by the Government in relation to CIE; and the way in which this compares with the percentage of costs met by other EU countries. [25657/03]

Minister for Transport (Mr. Brennan)

Expenditure in recent years by the Exchequer on public transport was as follows:

Year	Exchequer investment in CIE	Subvention paid to CIE	Luas	Total
	€m	€m	€m	€m
2000	199.5	189.19	70.97	459.66
2001	241.25	222.20	126.60	590.05
2002	278.74	233.31	127	639.05
2003 Estimates	314	244.98	127	685.98

The percentages of the costs of each of the CIE companies covered by Exchequer subvention in the period 2000 to 2002 are as follows:

Year	Bus Átha Cliath	Bus Éireann	Iarnród Éireann
	%	%	%
2000	23.76	9.3	42.5
2001	25.65	11.5	39.7
2002	26.16	9.3	40.4

Meaningful comparisons with investment and subvention levels in other EU countries are difficult due to differing regulatory and business environments and differing historical levels of investment in public transport infrastructure.