Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will go first. I wish to start by acknowledging the very good service Dublin Bus provides to the people of Dublin. That is not said frequently enough. Dublin Bus has a very loyal customer base. It provides an efficient and reliable service. The one issue with Dublin Bus at present that anyone travelling around the city in the evening or morning can see is that there are huge numbers of people at bus stops waiting for buses. If anything, the service is so popular that more buses are required.

It is also important to point out that there are very many good aspects to the BusConnects proposal. We are not about trying to throw out the whole proposal, but it is important that we as public representatives can debate in this House and communicate to the Minister the concerns that very many communities around Dublin have about the proposals.

On a broad level, my concern is that the proposal seems to have as its primary objective the transport of people from the outskirts of Dublin into the centre of Dublin as quickly as possible. This may be a commendable purpose but it ignores the fact that there are whole swathes of communities on the way into the centre that use Dublin Bus and live in those areas. It is very important that we ensure that the people who are served well by the Dublin Bus system on those routes into town continue to be well served. Part of people's strong concern that I have seen at meetings relates to the fact that certain areas will no longer be serviced by buses. For instance, there was great concern that the No. 1 bus would no longer go into Sandymount village and would avoid it, thereby damaging businesses in the area and upsetting individuals, including older people, who used it to get there. I am pleased to say that the NTA has indicated that this will be reversed and that the No. 1 will go through the village. The No. 47, however, will no longer be able to service St. Vincent's University Hospital for people coming from Ringsend and Sandymount, and the No. 15A will be removed from Terenure Road West, which will be a great inconvenience to the people in that area. I hope the individuals behind the BusConnects project will listen carefully to the submissions being made as people have legitimate concerns about it.

There is also the separate but related issue of the bus corridors. One area of my constituency has been told it will be grievously affected by the bus corridors, and that is the Lower Kimmage Road. The Lower Kimmage Road is a busy residential, two-lane road with bicycle lanes. The individuals on the Lower Kimmage Road have learned from the proposal that has been put out there that it is proposed to convert the road into a three or four-lane high-speed bus corridor. The people who live on the Lower Kimmage Road have done exemplary work in being able to identify from the documents what is being proposed, but no one has gone there and given them full information about it. They are aware, however, and there are general indications that they will lose parts of their gardens, even as far as up to the front doors of their houses. That is no way for any statutory body to treat people who live on such a road. People have invested huge sums of money in their homes and lived there for many years. They are entitled to be treated with respect. It is not acceptable for it just to be left within a statutory document that people will lose their gardens or have a three or four-lane high-speed bus corridor through them. That is not a suitable way to treat people.

It is wrong to state that these issues are being led by politicians. They are not. They are being led by the local community. There was a meeting on Sunday at 7 p.m. - one could not have picked a worse time to have a meeting - about the impact the bus corridors would have on the Lower Kimmage Road. I would say there were more than 200 people at the meeting. The intensity of feeling there was very significant. Many people were very fearful about what is being proposed. We need to respect the fact that people are entitled to be informed about this. This is a major infrastructural project. There is a total lack of awareness that the Poddle river flows underneath the road and that people on the road use bicycles and want to continue to be able to do so. There is a concern throughout the Dublin community that the people putting forward these proposals are not aware of the reality of what is happening on the ground. If those putting forward this proposal had gone out to the Lower Kimmage Road, which is a narrow, winding road at the end, they would realise it is simply madness to put forward a proposal that there be a three or four-lane high-speed bus corridor there, particularly when we have Harold's Cross Road, which has a quality bus corridor.

I could go on but I am conscious that my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, wants to have his say as well.

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