Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Leas-Chathaoirleach spoke first because he teased out the main reason we are here today. It is obvious where we need to focus our attention. I ask the Leas-Chathaoirleach to indulge me because some of the questions I want to ask are a little parochial.

I thank Mr. Edwards and Ms Swords for their responsiveness to any queries my office has put to them. It is obvious that they want to build good customer service, as others who have been here for longer than them have done. I acknowledge that and thank them.

I submitted a query recently with regard to a no-show and Mr. Edwards got back to me with the reason, which was that the driver skipped some 30 km of the route because of delays. How frequently is that an issue? How often are routes cut short in order that a bus driver can catch up to be on time for the remainder of the journey? What are the reasons that happens?

Balbriggan is probably the fastest growing town in the country. A whole swathe of north and north-west Balbriggan is not serviced by a bus. Is there a plan to address that? Do the bus companies need to wait for directions from some other body indicating that this need has arisen? How quickly can something like that happen?

The 33A service goes through Lusk and Rusk. We are trying to get more people in those towns to use the train. I am told that only one bus connects those towns to the train station in time to catch particular trains. Can the issue of connecting routes be addressed? If that does not work with Go-Ahead Ireland’s route, we may need to ask Local Link to provide a specific service for those people.

My next questions are for Mr. Hann. I congratulate Terry Clinton because working in one company for 50 years just does not happen any longer. It is absolutely incredible, so well done.

I have a question regarding a story in the newspaper this morning or yesterday that a large number of electric buses are being held up because the electric chargers and infrastructure are not available. What factors contributed to the delay in delivering that infrastructure? Was it just down to the company or were there other factors that led to the delay?

I have a general question related to another issue the Leas-Chathaoirleach raised. It has been reported that BusConnects will increase the bus service’s carbon footprint, as opposed to decreasing it. While I know the service will be extended and there will be new routes and other good stuff, if we are doing something that will increase our footprint, it seems counterintuitive.