Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputy Burton.

There is no doubt that the public consultation for BusConnects has been a fraught affair, but I believe the responsibility for ratcheting up the concerns to anxiety and worry levels rests with some political parties which have used this consultation for political gain.

There are concerns throughout Dublin city and county. In my constituency, there are fears over the Xpress bus services from Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush and Lusk, but I understand those worries are being addressed through the consultation process. There are concerns about the 43 bus service, which is a major school transport route from Swords along the Malahide Road. There are also concerns about the 42 route through Malahide. Those are real concerns and they need to be addressed through the public consultation process.

This is one of the most important public consultation processes that I can remember as the plan before us is a radical shake-up of our traditional bus service and routes. It needs to be handled carefully, diligently and with a measured approach to ensure any change is an improvement and protects citizens through increased, not decreased, connectivity.

As for the plan itself, there are elements of it I like. I like the idea of greater connectivity to get to more places with greater frequency. That is the core requirement of public transport.

The naming of the spine system on alphabetical lines would bring greater clarity of routes, and I believe it would be an improvement on the current system. I use the bus and I know how to get from my area into Dublin city and I know other bus routes in my own constituency. Beyond that, I have very little idea which bus goes to Rathfarnham, Blanchardstown, Shankill or elsewhere. The proposed naming makes sense, and I welcome that.

The identification of transport hubs needs to be very carefully carried out. The hubs need to be in pedestrianised areas with enough traffic and passive surveillance to ensure people feel safe and secure. They cannot be in industrial estates or retail parks which will become ghost towns after close of business every day.

We are at an acute point in terms of infrastructural development in Dublin. The housing crisis is the most visible manifestation of this pressure, but we have it across the board. We do not have enough water or wastewater treatment capacity to deal with the growth needed to solve the housing crisis, and we do not have the transport infrastructure either.

We have a great company in Dublin Bus, which I liken to Dublin Fire Brigade as one of the few public bodies which enjoys the faith and good favour of the public. Dublin Bus is creaking under the strain of existing growth and is under pressure from private operators and from people choosing cars above public transport. They see public bus as being the lower level option, particularly if they live near a train line or at the outer edges of the city.

Dublin Bus needs a new plan and it has been involved with the National Transport Authority, NTA, in helping to develop this initial proposal. If we do not do something radical with our bus service to make journeys quicker and to improve connectivity, Dublin Bus will suffer. We cannot continue to expand the service in a piecemeal fashion. There needs to be radical change. We want to be in a position were young Dubliners in particular keep their Leap card for longer than they currently do before feeling a need to get a car. This requires integration of transport modes and investment. I also believe strongly that it requires the State to retain control of these critical transport modes. The State needs to lead on this issue and to stand strong. It is also a big part of leading on climate change.

What this motion boils down to is an attack on the process of public consultation itself. This is the first phase of public consultation. At the very outset, it was extended until the end of September. Extra information meetings were arranged in communities throughout the city and county. This is a proposal for consultation, not a plan for implementation, so people should engage with the process. It will come back for further public consultation and if the plan that comes back is egregious and awful, then we will all ensure it is not implemented. I guarantee, however, that if we asked the people of Dublin four months ago if the bus service needed to be improved or changed in their area, the vast majority would have said "Yes".

We now have a draft plan. I believe it will be changed a great deal as this phase of public consultation concludes, but I worry that the die has been cast and the plan will be scrapped. This morning, on Leaders' Questions, we heard Members who have never delivered anything to anyone calling for BusConnects to be scrapped.

This motion has been tabled by Fianna Fáil, which will be involved in the negotiations for the next programme for Government that are due to begin either in a couple of weeks or after the next election. Either way, I imagine the party will call for this plan to be scrapped. It has used this process as an opportunity to get posters on poles and leaflets in doors and to tap into people's fear of change.

The consultation itself must be genuine and responsive. While I believe that will be the case, there are problems. The Lower Kimmage Road, Santry village, Terenure and Dublin 15 are areas which need focus through this process.

I mentioned the issues in my own constituency which need to be addressed. I believe there is scope for another A spine from Balbriggan to travel straight onto the M1 and into the city. Balbriggan is the second largest town by population in Fingal and has further zoned land which will see its population increase to the west by thousands. With a direct spine service, those people could reach Whitehall on a bus in the time it would take to get to Balbriggan train station.

Large population centres such as Malahide and Swords need to be considered carefully in terms of the spine routes. Swords is under-resourced in the current plan and much work needs to be done to ensure there is coverage for such a large town.

It is incumbent on us all as politicians to give public consultations a chance to ensure they are strong and robust. I believe "save our bus service" messages are reckless. They foment the belief that public consultations are foregone conclusions and not something with which people should engage positively. Let us see what comes out the other end of this process before coming to judgment and execution. This is also a lesson we can apply to other public consultations, from local area plans to wastewater treatment plants as well as to BusConnects itself.

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