Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Deputy Joan Burton said “Dublin Bus is not currently using the Port Tunnel for the Swords 41X route, from the Highfield-Forest Road area. A simple measure, concerning which the Minister has simply sat on his hands, would be to give a licence to these buses to come through the Dublin Port tunnel that was built at enormous cost and paid in full by the taxpayer. I would not have any difficulty with private buses using the tunnel but it is barred to Dublin Bus’ 41X route”.

“Minister Dempsey has powers under the relevant Transport Acts going back to the 1930s to grant the right to Dublin Bus to run the 41X through the tunnel. However, presumably in order to develop the private sector and give it an extra advantage, the Minister is barring Dublin Bus from doing so.”

“The net result is that commuters who live in the Forest Road and Highfield areas of Swords very often face an extra commute of half an hour minimum and, at busy times, their journey time from Swords to the city centre is extended by anything up to an hour and a quarter. If the Minister is committed to fair competition between private and public transport, he would permit access to a tunnel that was paid for by the commuter and the taxpayer. His partisan approach in allowing only the private sector to use the tunnel on this route is quite disappointing.”