Dáil debates
Wednesday, 19 September 2018
BusConnects: Motion [Private Members]
2:55 pm
Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
The use of public transport has been growing and has substantially increased. Existing routes in Ballymun, Santry, Whitehall, Glasnevin and Finglas were hard fought for by residents and are now under threat. Transport services should serve all the community, particularly those on disability payments, the elderly and the most vulnerable. Some of the major concerns I have are that it appears from these proposals that bus services are being rerouted and changed and will involve a hop on-hop off service.
Under these proposals, it appears Finglas village will no longer have a direct service. That could have catastrophic effects for the community, local businesses, the post office and employment. If someone is elderly, infirm or dependent on public transport, these proposals will severely impact on their ability to access local businesses and services. I do not want to see Finglas village turned into a ghost town.
In Ballymun, I am concerned that people will have to take more than one journey to access the city centre. The hop on-hop off approach in Ballymun will impact greatly on the elderly, those on disability payments, families with children and wheelchair users.
We have not seen any plans for the lands that are to be subject to compulsory purchase orders, CPOs. We do not know what those are or their location. A further concern is that this will also result in redundancies, not just in Dublin Bus but in other transport services.
I believe there is a privatisation agenda behind these proposals.
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