minister@transport.ie mary.hanafin@welfare.ie Minister Mary Hanafin TD Minister Noel Dempsey TD Dail Eireann Kildare St. Dublin 2 Dear Ministers Hanafin and Dempsey I would like to express my disgust at the unfair treatment by the Department of Transport of The Patton Flyer in their quest for a Route Licence for their service from Dalkey to Dublin Airport. The Patton Flyer has been seeking a Licence for this route since their initial application to the Department of Transport in 2006. FirstGroup (Aircoach) were awarded a licence (in a matter of months) from Greystones in Co. Wicklow to Dublin Airport in 2007. This service does not compete with The Patton Flyer. As both of you are aware The Patton Flyer operates under a Private Hire arrangement and therefore is not an illegal service. It is outrageous for the Minister to suggest otherwise. This service is community based and has been welcomed and supported by the people of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown since its inception. Why then refuse a Licence for this service that is an example of Irish people starting an enterprise that provides employment for 20 people, buys its fuel from a 100% Irish owned Company, pays a local Club to store its buses, pays all its taxes etc on time and brings business into the community? Can you explain why the Dept of Transport offered the Patton Flyer a Licence in January 2009 that was an insult and completely nonsensical? It would require them to drop four of their stops, increase the frequency of the service and only operate in one direction at certain times. If this was the Licence that the Department wanted to issue, then why was the same version not offered to FirstGroup? Why were FirstGroup offered the full route that the Patton Flyer had originally requested? This is a typical example of the Government paying lip service to the promotion of Irish business and bowing, cap in hand to the Multi-Nationals. You should embrace and support the initiatives of local business and not allow this type of blatant favouritism. Yours sincerely