John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is the point - it is a long process. I would love if the Minster devoted the same energy as he does to traffic safety, which is laudable, into a dynamic intervention into this. People cannot be encouraged or expected to switch from cars to buses if the bus infrastructure is not in place.

This speaks to the matter that arises time and again. I raised it yesterday with respect to the policing of bus corridors and the Minister did not particularly respond on any initiatives. This is the kind of matter that should keep the Minister and me up at night thinking of solutions for the intermediate term. It will be ten years before that bus corridor network is filled. How can we hope to encourage drivers to switch from cars to bus services if there are no corridors in place and if the project is not to be completed until 2027? That will lead to completely obstacle-free routes, leaving buses as essentially a Luas tram on rubber wheels, but drivers will have to wait for ten years until the entire infrastructure is built.

I would like the Minister to take a real leadership role in pushing this on and meeting representatives of the National Transport Authority, NTA, to make it happen as quickly as possible. We must get the compulsory purchase orders and a couple of eggs will have to be broken to make this omelette but we must get the NTA to push this through. The Minister should devise some intermediate solutions to encourage drivers to switch from cars to public transport.

See this speech in context