Ms Dervla McKay:

Good morning, my name is Dervla McKay and I am the managing director of Go-Ahead Ireland. I am joined today by my colleague, Niamh Swords, who is the director of operations. We thank the committee for its invitation to join today's discussion on urban bus services, alongside the National Transport Authority, NTA, and our fellow operators in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

Go-Ahead Ireland currently operates 31 routes in the greater Dublin area, including five commuter routes, serving 22.5 million passengers annually. As a public transport provider, our commitment has grown consistently since our establishment in 2018. As public transport in Ireland continues to grow, we continue to recruit to add to our almost 1,000-strong team of bus drivers, mechanics, operation staff and additional management professionals. Our ambition to provide safe, reliable and accessible public transport to our passengers is underpinned by the work done each and every day in our depots and out on the roads.

In our local communities, we play an important leadership role, as demonstrated by our partnerships with Dublin GAA, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, An Garda Síochána and more. We invest in initiatives run by the people who use our services and we work alongside other organisations in growing and strengthening the communities we serve.

When it comes to urban bus services, along with our fellow operators in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann we face many of the same operational challenges that can impact services. While we pride ourselves on consistently meeting and exceeding our contractual performance targets, we acknowledge experiencing issues on occasion and make every effort to not only maintain but enhance the reliability and punctuality of our services.

Regarding the issues impacting public transport, as we have discussed with the committee before, congestion is the largest ongoing challenge. Improper use of bus lanes, overcrowded streets due to cars, roadworks and other associated issues can all combine to impact punctuality. Furthermore, another general issue is that of remote working patterns which have changed the times at which people use public transport. As such, commuting and congestion patterns are not as predictable as they once were and there are still times of the day when it is difficult to predict a journey's reliability or punctuality simply due to the fact there are not enough bus-only lanes or these lanes are being used by vehicles not allowed to operate in them.

Another issue that has been well publicised is the shortage of labour across the transport sector, notably in the area of mechanics. We are actively recruiting in the greater Dublin area and have had a record number of applications to our apprenticeship scheme, although a gap remains. To ensure we continue to meet the national labour shortage in this area, we have taken the step to recruit mechanics internationally and we will have a number join our business later this year. To facilitate the additional growth of our business and the wider public transport network, we continue to recruit drivers and have a strong pipeline in this area. We continually monitor our application pipeline to ensure we have enough new colleagues joining our business to keep our rosters full.

Although it is not a significant issue for Go-Ahead Ireland as it is for other public transport operators, antisocial behaviour is unfortunately part of the urban society in which we live and an issue we monitor with vigilance. Our drivers always prioritise the safety of passengers and we are grateful to them and to An Garda Síochána for its assistance when required.

In closing, while there are undoubted challenges facing urban public transport, at Go-Ahead Ireland we remain both ambitious and optimistic about the future. The ongoing rollout of BusConnects, the introduction of lower Leap card fares and the integration of ticket services are a few examples of the positive work being undertaken by the National Transport Authority and other stakeholders to further the development of urban public transport which we will continue to support.