Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have the right people in the room to tell us it will be on time. I apologise to the Chair for my delay. I was also at the public accounts committee meeting.

The Minister mentioned the BusConnects plan. It is being rolled out in various phases. We know that. Reference was also made to the N11-M11 junction. I heard the Minister's response to that.

That is the Minister's view and I can appreciate that. Regarding that spine, as it would be called under the BusConnects proposals, the removal of all those slip lanes off the N11 has benefits for public transport and active travel but it will cause congestion for the vehicles for which the road was primarily built. This is guaranteed in my view. It is a flaw in the design. We are talking about quite a sizeable number of slip roads off a national route. We may agree to disagree about the need for N11-M11 but I am very concerned about a national road, such as the N11 being redesigned in the manner that is proposed. We must find a more sensible solution to accommodating the various junctions that exist along that road.

Great strides have been made in accessible transport. Deputy Bruton mentioned the pilot rolled out recently. Campaigners are still saying that this is still inadequate. We need to put additional emphasis on ensuring there is greater accessibility for all users of public transport.