James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her engagement on the issues facing the aviation sector. I gave an extensive commentary at the most recent sitting of the committee on what was required to try to assist our airports and it is fantastic to see that the Government stepped in and provided that support. I know it is appreciated and it will be an ongoing situation to try to help the aviation sector in the next number of years. It is not going to happen overnight and a lot of other issues need to be discussed but first and foremost, implementing financial supports was welcome. I know it is appreciated in Cork and I am conscious that I am only Deputy here from Cork county.

I sincerely encourage the Minister of State to continue her engagement with the airport and the DAA.

It was welcome to see a €1 billion increase in investment from the Department of Transport in the budget for 2020. I have had engagement with the local authorities, especially Cork County Council, which is the local authority for the entirety of my constituency. There has been a degree of concern around the funding allocated and the inability of the council in some cases to get the opportunity to fulfil or to get through the entire amount of money allocated for different grants and so on. The active travel grant was flagged with me. There was concern around the lack of timing to plan for this. The grant is an excellent measure and I really welcome it. I am an avid walker and I know it will make a fantastic difference around the county. Fair play to the Department of Transport for putting proper investment in place. There was a degree of anxiety relating to local authorities that have ongoing projects. They want to try to get proper timing and planning in place so that they can actually spend the money allocated. Can the Minister of State look into ways the funding could be carried on from 2020 into 2021?

There is a bad situation in Cork County Council. We know Cork County Council has one of the lowest funding rates per linear metre in the country. It comes down to economies of scale and the fact that it is the largest local authority in terms of geographical size and it has the largest road network. Unfortunately, I would be the first person to tell the committee that it is not good on the ground. It is certainly an area in respect of which I call on the Minister of State to reach out to the director of roads. I know the Minister of State has engaged with him already. The council staff are doing excellent work. They are doing their best, but when it comes to funding the council is in a bad situation. I was a member of the transport committee in Cork County Council before I was elected to the Dáil. Certainly, it was in a bad place with funding. Perhaps this could be one area the Minister of State might get an opportunity to look at in the months ahead and coming into 2021.

Another area where I have done significant work since I began my political career has been the relationship around Bus Éireann's Expressway services and its public service obligation services. I spoke in the Dáil about this when the Minister of State was present. This is really an area on which the Government could focus in the coming years. We could have a significant improvement in the percentage of people in the community using public transport services to get to and from work. I know the pandemic has changed people's lives and the way they live. It might be a long time before we see a major increase in the number of people using public transport services but we should start putting a plan in place now, while there is an opportunity and while things are fairly quiet with public transport companies, to try to see how we can improve on it.

There is one particular area in County Cork that needs to be addressed. I know the Cabinet signed off on the contract for the Dunkettle interchange. One problem that always bothered me was the fact there are no public transport services servicing the large employers on the south side of Cork city with the major residential areas like Middleton, Carrigtwohill and Youghal on the far side. Thousands of people are commuting up and down in their cars every day. The only reason they are not utilising public transport services is, frankly, that there is no option. A motorist who goes through the tunnel in Cork has access to Mahon Point, Ringaskiddy, Cork University Hospital and the university and colleges. This is a great chance for the Government to look at the services throughout Cork city and county and consider how they could improve. We need to look at how people in the metropolitan towns are getting in and out to the city and to and from work. I was on Cork radio recently. I suggested that Cork could address this under the Cork metropolitan transport area strategy. I said there was perhaps potential for a Cork bus service to be the same as the service in Dublin, whereby there is a focus on Cork as a county rather than having Bus Éireann trying to manage the entire country with public service obligation services. There are several problems with this. Even from a reliability perspective, a great deal of money is going to PSO services. The return to the public could certainly be improved on. I do not mean that as a criticism but I certainly believe there is an opportunity for the Minister of State to take some time to look at that. I would welcome any engagement the Minister of State could have with me on that. I will give the her an opportunity to respond.