Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Chairman for this opportunity to voice the frustrations and concerns of my constituents in Wicklow. As for the issues with the bus service, I have been having discussions with them for a number of months. My first meeting with the Go-Ahead Ireland company was in April of this year. This is not just something that has happened over the past month or two. I do not believe it can be described as an emergency situation because emergencies should not be continuing over such a long period of time. This has been highlighted for many months and we have not seen a resolution to the issues since it has been highlighted.

I am referring specifically to the Wicklow services, namely, the 184, 185, 45A, 84X and the 65 routes. In those services, we are seeing no-shows.

We are seeing drivers driving past bus stops and people being left stranded. I am hearing of people late for work, school and college. It is just not good enough. The public transport service that people deserve and need is not being provided. We are hearing that the principal problem is the lack of drivers but I find it quite confusing. When I met Go-Ahead Ireland in April, I was told that the problem at that point was a lack of drivers. We have been told today that it has 45 vacancies but it will have solved that problem within four to six weeks. Given that this issue was highlighted in April, why has it not been resolved already if Go-Ahead Ireland's pipeline is moving that quickly? Similarly, Dublin Bus has said that it can have 25 people a month getting through its driver school. It has 150 vacancies. In the eleventh month of 2022, you would expect that these problems would be resolved. Like Deputy Duncan Smith, I wonder if this is a problem of driver retention rather than driver acquisition. What is the turnover in drivers in Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland this year compared with what it was prior to Covid? I am tight on time so I would just like the figure for 2022 for both companies.