Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

BusConnects is a complex proposal involving a profound reconfiguration of our bus services. For many, it is very difficult to understand. I say that as a daily bus user. There are positives and negatives in the plan and it raises many questions. In much of the public engagement on the issue, the questions are to the fore. I share the concerns of my colleagues regarding the limited nature of the public consultation to date, which is why many of us have felt obliged to organise our own public engagements to ensure that people have the information they need. I have organised nine meetings in my constituency at which I have presented people with the facts. I met representatives of the NTA who explained the plans to me. I am telling people how it will affect their area and letting them give me feedback on the proposals. I am encouraging them to engage with the consultation, to highlight their concerns and to propose possible solutions within the overall plan to the NTA and take it at its word that it will listen to such proposals. We will judge the NTA in that regard when the process is complete.

In terms of the feedback I have received, there is a big concern about the interchanges - will they operate right, will there be sufficient frequency at the change points, will there be sufficient shelter etc. There is concern about a loss of direct routes to hospitals. St. James's Hospital and Stewarts Care in Palmerstown, which are used by many in my constituency, have been widely mentioned in that regard. There is concern and a lack of confidence in the promised level of investment. We are not mischievously raising the issue of privatisation. At every public meeting I have attended, people have raised it as a concern. The best way to put that concern to bed would be for the Government to make clear that privatisation is not on the agenda.

I share the concerns of my constituency colleagues regarding, for example, the rerouting of the No. 13 bus and the lack of increased frequency of the No. 25. I mentioned Stewarts Care in Palmerstown. Later this week, I will attend meetings in Newcastle, Rathcoole and Saggart, communities which have very real concerns about the proposals as they are on the periphery of the city.

We are engaging in this process in good faith and urge the NTA to listen to bus users as well as bus drivers and their representatives. That it should go for a second round of consultation following scrutiny by the Oireachtas committee is an eminently sensible idea which I am sure even the Minister, Deputy Ross, can support.

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