Ms Anne Graham:

On the 343 service, we have got a report from Bus Éireann. As a result of the growth in passenger demand across the country, some services are reaching capacity and are in fact leaving people behind right across the country. Therefore, Bus Éireann has identified several services where additional high-capacity vehicles are required or where additional service frequency is needed. This is before we even get to what we want to deliver through Connecting Ireland. This is just an immediate problem. The 343 route has been identified as one of the problematic ones. We are working with Bus Éireann to determine how we can rectify the problem where there is more demand than we can currently cater for. I cannot give the Deputy any indication of when it can be resolved but we certainly need to address it as soon as possible, with additional fleet, drivers or service frequency. It will take priority, even over providing additional services in other parts of the country.