Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy O'Rourke is absolutely right to focus on Connecting Ireland as a key element in our transport plans. To achieve the level of emissions reductions will involve everywhere and every place matters. Connecting Ireland is critical to achieve the national planning framework objective of better balanced regional development. The programme for Government committed to significant improvements in rural bus connectivity and public transport. People do not have the level of services and access to public transport they deserve.

TII, the NTA and my Department are examining specific measures, including moving to a testing and implementation phase where we establish new bus networks and ways of delivering rural bus connectivity. That will involve the likes of Bus Éireann, private bus operators, Local Link operators and getting the connecting element of this strategy right. The advantage of such bus systems is that they can be rolled out relatively quickly. Such a project will require significant additional resources and good planning to back it up in our towns-based strategy so that people can live in towns served by buses. I will come back to the Deputy on his second question in a further reply.

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