Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The improvement of local bus services is included in the programme for Government. I raise the need for a local bus service in the town of Portlaoise. The plan has been put together, the research has been done by the local authority, the route has been designed and the location of bus stops has been decided. The Government needs to hand this role over to the local authorities. This is with the National Transport Authority, NTA, and it is a pain trying to get anywhere with the NTA. We should not be contacting the NTA in Dublin about issues like this. The Government should trust the local authorities, their staff and members. They are grown-ups and the Government should devolve that power to them. Portlaoise is a growing town that is over 7 km across. It has a population of 25,000, far bigger than the city of Kilkenny. The centre of the town is choked up with cars regularly. It is a low-carbon town.

See this speech in context