Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I want to make a few points about public transport in Cork. The transport news that has dominated today has been the news of the delays in key public transport initiatives in Dublin. It is in sharp contrast with what the Government said last week at COP26 and at the launch of the climate action plan that there are delays in key public transport initiatives. A key public transport initiative in Cork is the plan for light rail. We need to know when we will have light rail and we will not be tolerating delays to it. Delays in Dublin are also unacceptable.

BusConnects is in the news in Cork and a new round of public consultation on it has opened. The proposal is to increase services in the city by 36%. That is not sufficient and it needs to go further. There are big population increases on the cards in Cork over the next number of years and a 36% increase does not match up to that. We need to be more ambitious. BusConnects needs to ensure that the travelling time for people in key suburbs is not increased by connecting with other areas. For example, the trip from Ballyvolane to the city centre by bus takes about 15 minutes. If that service from Ballyvolane was to run to the city centre via Blackpool that would increase to something closer to 30 minutes. I understand that is the type of measure that is being looked at. We need to improve the service for the people in the likes of Blackpool but we should not do so at the cost of disimproving the service for the people in Ballyvolane. If BusConnects is to be a success, it would be important to take that point on board.

Under BusConnects, 200 extra buses in Cork city is being spoken of. An investment of €200 million is being spoken of. The central bus garage at Capwell is not a suitable location for an expansion of that size. Capwell is already too small for the needs in the city. It is bounded by houses on both sides. It is bounded by schools as well. It has been accepted for some time now that Capwell will not be sufficient. There was an attempt to secure a depot at Monaghan Road last year. The attempt to do that was not successful. There has been an attempt to secure a depot at North Esk. My understanding of the position is that at best Bus Éireann would be able to secure the North Esk site for a maximum of five years for a variety of reasons. I am not 100% certain of them and will not speculate here on the floor of the Dáil but I understand that five years is the maximum that could be got there. Therefore, North Esk is not a long-term solution. It may not even be a medium-term solution.

I understand that there is another reason an alternative location for a bus depot is needed in Cork city. Above and beyond the expansion of the fleet, there is the question of the electrification of the fleet. My understanding is that if you electrify your bus fleet, you need more storage space, not less. You need to have room for chargers, you need to have more space between your buses and you may need to dig up what is underneath the ground surface in your depot. My understanding is that what is underneath the ground surface in the depot in Capwell would make doing that a difficult and expensive job, which may even raise a question mark as to whether you can have Capwell as a depot for your buses alongside another location or whether you will need to move from Capwell, lock, stock and barrel, and have another location entirely. The question of securing a new bus garage, depot and storage space in Cork city is a priority issue of some urgency now that will need to be watched carefully.

On BusConnects and the expansion of public transport, in the budget it was announced that there was to be half-price travel for a cohort of young people, I think, aged 18 to 23, to be introduced. That is a step forward but it is a half-measure. The climate emergency does not call out for half-measures. It calls out for emergency measures. The emergency measure that is necessary here, I believe, is free public transport for all. That is an idea the time of which has come. It is something about which we need a government to say, "Yes, we are going to do that." There needs to be pressure put from below on Government by the emerging climate movement to have free public transport in this country.

On the question of a Cork-Limerick motorway, the idea of treating the climate crisis as an emergency in the State is not compatible with building a motorway between Cork and Limerick and a motorway should not be built between Cork and Limerick. That is not to say that there is not investment needed on the road there. There are a number of towns that need to be bypassed and increased safety provisions need to be made on that road. However, if we are looking at improved connectivity between Limerick and Cork, and we should do that, what we need to look at is improving rail services between the two cities and improving bus services between the two cities, including stop-offs that will facilitate people in getting from A to B in work situations, and improving public transport as you come into both Limerick and Cork so that when you arrive, you are able to travel efficiently and cheaply around the city that you are arriving in.

Those are the key points that I want to make. I reiterate the point about the bus garage and the bus depot in Cork. That is an issue, given the expansion of services with BusConnects and issues of electrification, that needs to be addressed now as a matter of some priority.

See this speech in context