Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. There is no doubt the cuts to the public transport system, in particular the cut in the Government subsidy, year on year, has led to serious cuts in public transport, particularly in Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann services, which have led to a lack of services for passengers in a number of areas. I know this from what I see in my own area, where routes have been cut. I question the logic behind cutting these routes when we should be trying to adapt and improve routes, not eliminate them completely, which is what has happened.

There are other areas we need to look at in terms of improving public transport. I again come back to the whole issue of some of the capital projects that have been dropped, such as Metro North, which would deliver a public transport system to the airport. While there were costings in the past, costs have come down considerably. I would like to think we could achieve a link-up between north and south Dublin and our national airport. This is an area that has been neglected.

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