Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 February 2017
638. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if section 17(22) of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 (details supplied) has been commenced; if not, the reason; and his plans to establish the Dublin transport authority advisory council. [7096/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraSection 17 of the Dublin Authority Act 2008 provides for the establishment of the Dublin Transport Authority Advisory Council and sets out the composition of that council and other related matters. Section 18 of the Act then goes on to set out the functions of the Council.
Section 17(22) states that the Minister shall by Order appoint a day to be the "appointed day" for the purposes of the section as a whole. The "appointed day" is the day upon which the Council is established. No such Order under section 17(22) has been made and the Council has never been established.
The Deputy will be aware that the 2008 Act provided for a Dublin Transport Authority, but that in 2009 the Public Transport Regulation Act recast the Authority as a National Transport Authority (NTA). However, section 17 is still constructed as if the Council is to advise a specifically Dublin-only Authority. Therefore, I believe that serious consideration is required as to how best to reflect the, now, national responsibilities of the NTA in the composition of any such Advisory Council.
Furthermore, the Deputy will be aware of the recent launch of the consultation process on the development of a new National Planning Framework. One theme in the consultation document is an identified need to better integrate regional transport and land-use planning policies; in this regard, the document references the current approach in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) which requires mutual consistency between the NTA's regional transport strategy and the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy. Depending on the overall approach adopted by the National Planning Framework on this issue of better integration between land-use planning and transport planning, there may well be a need to expand upon the NTA's legal powers in relation to land-use planning outside the GDA, which would again require careful consideration of how best to ensure that any Advisory Council reflects the full range of relevant stakeholders.
On the basis of the above, I think it best to await the development of the National Planning Framework to ensure that its recommendations can be reflected in both the composition of any future NTA Advisory Council and its functions.
