Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A paltry 8% increase in PSO funding across our bus and rail public transport network make it clear that the Minister is no fan or friend of Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann, public transport or rural Ireland. His boss, the Minister for Finance, said yesterday in respect of the budget that a paltry increase of €9.6 million was to be spread across public transport services and our crumbling road infrastructure and network. That is unbelievably shameful given the crisis in our public transport network and the roads infrastructure. It shows the Minister's true colours. I do not think he has taken this crisis in public transport seriously at all. He seems to have completely abandoned public transport and the people who rely on it and need it, along with the roads infrastructure. He is happy to have got the Stepaside Garda station reopened as his prize and to hell with public transport or roads infrastructure funding. The Minister knows fine well that the two portfolios crucial to preparing this country for Brexit are transport and agriculture and there is nothing in this budget that shows the Minister is taking that seriously.

The Minister got his prize and he rolled over, and his attitude is to hell with public transport and our roads. There is nothing in this. It is one of the worst allocations. What efforts did he put into it? It is dismal.

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