Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 27 January 2022

Public Accounts Committee

National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Photo of Jennifer Carroll MacNeillJennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I can see at every level that huge effort is going into this and that is fantastic. I want to go back down to the broader read-across of other supports for public transport in schools. I will highlight the example of the 59 and 111 bus routes in Dublin. This is where a review of the routes and timetables is necessary to support schoolchildren and their families. At 3.43 p.m. a 59 bus leaves Dalkey, where the school finishes at 3.45 p.m. It gets to the next school at 3.48 p.m. That school also finishes at 3.45 p.m. They are both girls' schools. The next bus from Dalkey is at 4.30 p.m. This is a local example but it shows how the schoolchildren in two secondary schools should be able to depend, particularly in the winter, on not waiting around for public transport and access it easily. With my colleague, I urge a review to make sure the timetables are consistent with the needs of the people who need them. It is aligned with the NTA's other policy.

The witnesses spoke briefly about DART+ coastal and I do not want to repeat what has been said. My colleague touched on the issue of the Merrion Gates. There is provision for a new DART station at Woodbrook, which is great to see. In response to an earlier question, we were told the project is that the early stages of planning. Will the witnesses give me a timeline for where this is going? It is a hugely populated part of Dublin. What is the timeline? If it is at the early stages now where are we overall?