Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the metro, it is a little bit of a pet project of mine in my own constituency. I very much welcome the appointment of Dr. Sean Sweeney and the advances that are being made. I note the remarks that have been made thus far. We are all waiting on tenterhooks for An Bord Pleanála to get us a decision, and I certainly hope the right decision is made. I very much hope that once that decision is made and the matter is concluded, we can have the NTA in and have a lengthy debate about how we might assist it in getting that project up and running. That is not a question but more of a remark.

With regard to fleet optimisation, Irish Rail has obviously published plans. We know about the electric buses that have been delivered or are in the process of being delivered under the theme of sustainable transport operations, which is what this meeting is about. Perhaps the witnesses could write to the committee and inform us or identify for us the timeline for the electrification of the Dublin Bus fleet and those in other cities and large urban centres.

Could they also include remarks on the operators' capacity to provide those buses? I am sure every urban TD and Senator in this building would be aware of ghost buses that are not showing up because real time is not real time; it is timetable time. We have buses that do not show up, not to be confused with the tourist offering, which is a ghost bus. I want to make sure that we have a good grip as to precisely what has been ordered, by whom and what plans are there. As I said, the Irish Rail timetable is very well known. It is published. It is up on their website. With other operators, it is not so much the case. I wonder whether the NTA might be able to provide us with additional information.

My other point for a reply is in relation to the BusConnects projects. The chairman quite helpfully ran through it at the beginning. The NTA is on phase 6, I understand, which, by extrapolation, is spine E. Can the witnesses provide us with a full list of their expectations as to when the next number of services, right down to No. 12, are rolled out, with a quarter or half-year associated with it, in order that the committee can be fully briefed on precisely what their expectations are in terms of the actually buses? Separately, it would be extremely helpful if they could provide us with information in regards to their plans for planning applications for the infrastructure side of the BusConnects projects.

Finally, I compliment the NTA for the foresight in the additional funding that is being provided to the rural link services. Local Link is the only service provider in the State that I have not received a complaint about in many years.