Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates whom I seem to be meeting more often these days. I will try to be brief and precise.

The information sessions are vital. We have entered a public consultation process without a list of where the information sessions will take place. They need to take place very quickly because there is a great deal of confusion among the public about indicative and exact lines. I will discuss one of the routes which I took two hours to walk through last night. It is the C route, which is the one closest to my home. When one leaves Ringsend, there is no clear indication as to whether Pembroke Street or Bath Street will be used. In walking the route I counted 50 car parking spaces that would have to go. I have no notion of to where they will be moved. That is why the information sessions are so important. I counted five disability parking bays. There is one woman with a severe disability and I do not know how she will be able to commute or gain access. I walked around her home for some time trying to find where the bay could be put in close proximity. Again, there has been no communication, which is a grave concern.

On the routes that will be lost, one is the No. 47. It travels infrequently, but people have adjusted to the level of service. Importantly, it takes people to their hospital appointments at St. Vincent's University Hospital and continues on to UCD for students. The document does not state clearly that the route will be gone, but it will be because it is on the C route. The authority is doing a great deal of work and has many balls in the air with regard to consultation on MetroLink, BusConnects, the idea of having 1,000 guards or 300 parking spaces or whatever combination there will be. How many staff are working on the projects? Is the authority fully resourced for the amount of work taking place in a very short period?

I will conclude with a comment. It was fantastic to see the French football team travelling along the Champs-Élysées to celebrate winning the World Cup. They were on an electric bus. Paris and France are way ahead of anywhere else in the use of electric buses, yet the delegates are still talking about hybrid diesel buses. We need to move on in that regard, especially given the concentration of buses in the city centre.

My questions about the C route may sound local, but if anybody in this room walked one of his or her own routes, he or she would probably come up with similar questions about people with a disability, parking bays and other issues and how they are to be addressed.