James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the clarification that the NTA will review the route after Christmas. I heard from the provider, Bus Éireann, this morning that the service was guaranteed until Christmas and I welcome the clarification today that it will review and perhaps consider the service as part of the PSO at that point. I hope some lessons are learned from this exercise. While I appreciate that the Minister may not have direct operational responsibility, I hope he will bring to the NTA's attention the manner in which this decision was communicated. Does he share our concerns that a tweet late in the evening announcing the cancellation of a service established for over ten years, with zero engagement, is not the way to go?

If there is to be a review, I would welcome the opportunity for engagement, as would, I am sure, all Deputies from Kildare. I would suggest a number of improvements. I will not detail them all now but they include suggestions on the timetable and stops on the route. I can think of a number of changes off the top of my head that would improve the service if it is loss-making, although I am sceptical about that. Perhaps we could help the company turn this around by making some tweaks which would make the service more popular and useful.

I ask the Minister to press the company to engage with the users of the route and Members of the Oireachtas before it makes a decision on this service. It is critical that lessons are learned from such an engagement.

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