Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to be in a position to be able to attend this meeting. I am normally at the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, which happens to sit at the same time. When we talk about joined-up thinking, transport and climate change are intrinsically linked. It is a pity that the meetings conflict when one is a spokesperson for that issue.

I wish to ask Dublin Bus about any plans for the C-spine in north Kildare of which I am a representative. The C-spine comes as far as Maynooth through Leixlip and Celbridge. We used to have a Dublin Bus service that went to Kilcock. Is there any sign of that happening again?

The C3 and C4 routes come in through Maynooth from the east side. Maynooth is expanding to the north and west. I grew up in Dublin where I never looked at a timetable. I went up the road for the 19A bus and down the road for the number 11 bus. There was a bus every ten minutes. I did not have to worry about it. Buses are not that frequent in n north Kildare, however. People who live on the opposite side of Maynooth have to walk one mile to a bus stop, which is mad when we are in the middle of a climate crisis. The easy option should be to get onto a bus. We should be making it easier for people. The Dublin Bus representatives might also get back to me on Kilcock.

I raised the issue of public transport with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. I brought it up at the Joint Committee on Gender Equality and Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. We talk about chaos theory and the butterfly flapping its wings. It affects everybody, particularly women. A number of women have to get off work to drop a child to Maynooth university because the bus has not turned up and is a no-show or has disappeared from the app. It is generally women who have to do that. Even when a person is late for work, his or her job is not being done. It affects the economy. It affects people's co-workers and the service that is being delivered. It has a knock-on effect on absolutely everything, not to mention the stress it causes.

A person must wait for the Go-Ahead Ireland 120 bus service, which is appalling. It is dreadful. It is so bad that I do not think Go-Ahead Ireland should get the contract again. A person might wait half an hour for a bus. If someone is ten minutes early, he or she must stand in the rain in Clane or Prosperous in north Kildare to wait for the bus that does not turn up. It could take another half hour. A person could be standing for an hour and ten minutes in the cold and rain waiting for a bus in north Kildare. It really is unacceptable.