Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I am now going to name some towns in my constituency.

I will revert to the bus stops issue. My God, it breaks my heart. Stradbally now has eight services in and out of Dungarvan daily, but the only way someone would know that a bus passed through Stradbally would be if he or she happened to be standing on the side of the road when it went by. There is no bus stop or painted square on the ground. There is no sign of a timetable. To use the bus service, someone would have to know when the bus was going to turn up and be in the right place. Someone might know it was leaving from the village square – the square is not enormous, as Stradbally is a small village – but there is no indication of where to stand to catch it.

The process for getting a bus service – the Cathaoirleach outlined some of this – seems tortuous, labyrinthine or whatever word we want to attach to it. The local authority points to the NTA and the NTA often points back to the local authority, and it takes forever. Much of the time, the service is designed as if it were dropped from space. Stradbally does not need a large bus shelter or a real-time board. We could use a pole with a timetable on it, though. For anyone who engages with a Local Link service, this is a recurring feature. If possible, will the witnesses briefly describe the process from identifying that there is a clear need for a bus stop to the point where we actually have a bloody bus stop?