Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to see the witnesses in here again. I thank them for coming in. I regularly highlight the issues. I wish to start positively. I am a huge supporter of public transport. I take it an awful lot. I understand the customer experience. One of things that is working well is the B1 route in Balbriggan. Balbriggan is the youngest large town in the country. It is one of the fastest growing towns in the country. It is absolutely sprawling. The B1 is doing good work in trying to move people around. However, the town continues to get bigger. I would like to see the B1 route expanded if possible. There are new Land Development Agency, LDA, developments and Balbriggan is almost expanding into Balrothery. I would be really pleased if the NTA and Bus Éireann looked at that route again.

The next issue I wish to raise is the Local Link. I represent Dublin Fingal West, the most rural constituency in Dublin. We have four large towns but besides that we are quite rural. I have asked about having a Local Link service on the eastern side of the constituency. Unfortunately, I got a negative response. It is important to highlight that Rush and Lusk were both villages until recently. They are now large towns. If we look at the distance to travel, for example from one of the new estates in Rush to Rush and Lusk train station, which is in the middle of nowhere - it is not in either of the towns - it is an hour’s walk. I would like to see a Local Link service circling Skerries, Rush and Lusk. Will Mr. Creegan comment on those points?