Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right, but we need to recognise that it is changing. The number of public transport users last year was up 25% compared with the previous year. That is phenomenal. Included in that figure is Dublin Bus. However, the Deputy is right, as we need to go further and faster. He is also right that access to drivers has probably been one of the biggest constraints. Getting mechanics for the garages has also been a major problem. Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead are going flat out recruiting more staff.

After these, the main impediment has been congestion, which is crippling for everyone. It means that we have to build the BusConnects network. The corridors are already working. We have rolled out five or six, starting in Howth and Lucan and now with the southern orbitals and Clondalkin. We will do the south inner city or the variety of other orbitals. The real test will be the building of the BusConnects corridors.

This will give a very high-quality environment in which the buses will turn around very quickly and drivers can do more routes more quickly. The first two projects in Clongriffin and Liffey Valley have come out of planning. Subject to them not being judicially reviewed in the next few weeks, we will go to construction straight away. I do think it is about delivery of the entire plan. It is not just for Dublin. It is really important that we deliver the same for Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. As I said earlier, balanced regional development is critical.

It is also for towns, as town buses are incredibly successful. We introduced a town bus in Carlow and saw a large increase in patronage. It was the same in Kilkenny and in any town we have put them into. Earlier we mentioned Connecting Ireland, which is the rural bus transport service. Buses will be the workhorses of our public transport system and at the forefront of decarbonising our transport system. We are on track to do this. I absolutely understand the frustration of someone being at a stop when the bus does not come on time or the real-time information is not accurate. This is something we absolutely have to address. To go back to the independence of the NTA which I mentioned earlier, one of the benefits is that we can hold it and the operators to account to make sure we deliver the service levels we expect. We will be pushing this.