Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Chair. I will go through a few matters and leave time for answers at the end.

I would like to return to the interchange at the Palmerston junction that is set out in the development plan. I draw attention to that because the N4 ultimately falls under the responsibility of TII. It is one of the main arterial routes into the city centre and the last bottleneck before one gets into Dublin. I would be very keen to see some sort of proactive engagement between TII and South Dublin County Council on dealing with that particular structure.

The other point I wish to raise is in regard to cycle tracks on national roads.

I am not sure what maintenance is done by TII on the cycle tracks that sit on its national roads. I have raised this directly with South Dublin County Council. I am told it is the responsibility of TII. Maybe the witnesses could follow up with me afterwards and point me in the direction of where I should address the issues of ongoing maintenance. For example, the cycle track on the N4 that will not be part of BusConnects has not been maintained to my knowledge since it was built. That is an issue, especially if we are going to encourage people to use the connecting bus corridor that will come from that cycle track.

Then, for the NTA, I note that in the programme for Government, there is a commitment to a feasibility study for metro south west. Could I get an update on that? I am very enthused by the fact that there are now three active Luas lines at various stages of progression that are being strategised as part of the NTA's overall remit. I am keen to get a sense from the witnesses about how we will keep that rolling expertise ongoing. Are we going to stop then once Poolbeg, Finglas and Lucan are done or are we going to start rolling so that we have a constant bank of possible feasibility studies or possible emerging preferred routes for the additional lines that are to be delivered as part of the greater Dublin transport strategy?

I cannot let the witnesses out of the room without mentioning the ongoing issues with the 80 bus route that was introduced as part of the recent phase of BusConnects. I am sure they are aware of the significant issues there are with buses not turning up and cancellations. A lot of this has been pointed to the fact that the bus has been put across Bridge Street down towards Rathmines, as opposed to going along the quays. I am not sure what the resolution is here, but it is something we want to resolve because we are losing a lot of people's good will towards public transport in Palmerston and Chapelizod in particular. I would appreciate some good engagement on that too.