Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This Monday, commuters, public transport users and schoolkids in Dunmore East, Passage East and Portlaw heard the news that the operator they have relied upon for bus services for generations was withdrawing from the sector. The managing director, Brian Lynch, reached out to local Oireachtas Members and media outlets to let us know that Suirway Bus and Coach Services will be ceasing to operate its public transport services after 31 October and that it has informed the NTA that it will not be renewing its route licences.

I will discuss the implications for the community of Dunmore and Portlaw shortly but I would like first to acknowledge how difficult a decision this must have been for Brian and his family. Suirway has been a family business for three generations. It is hard to believe but Suirway has been in the public transport business since 1899, when it first offered public transport services consisting of high quality tyred traps. Its first bus did not arrive until 1928 and it is one of the earliest public transport services to operate in Ireland, predating the Road Transport Act 1932, which established the national public transport system.

The company has survived two world wars, the energy crisis of the 1970s and all the boom and lean times of the last 123 years. The impact of Covid-19, however, followed by the spike in energy prices precipitated by Russia's illegal war in Ukraine and the future challenges of decarbonising our transport fleet, have left Mr. Lynch in a position where he does not see a future for his business. Suirway is rightly proud of its history and this decision has been taken with a heavy heart. I acknowledge the role the company has played in Waterford for a century and more.

The loss of Suirway means we have six weeks to solve a transport problem that will impact the almost 2,000 people who live in Portlaw and the nearly 2,000 people who live in Dunmore East, not to mention the people living in the hinterland of those towns and along those bus routes. Dunmore East is to the east of Waterford city and the existing bus service accesses the city via the Dunmore Road corridor, which I have discussed with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on many occasions. There is no secondary school in Dunmore East, so children have to travel to the Gaelcholáiste, Waterpark College, the Ursuline secondary school, the Newtown School and the De La Salle College, all of which are on or close to this route. The bus also passes University Hospital Waterford, UHW, and the likes of Ardkeen Stores, Lidl and Tesco, where people from Dunmore East pick up their grocery shopping. Most people living in Dunmore East work in Waterford city and significant traffic also moves in the other direction, with people from Waterford city travelling out to Dunmore East for a swim, a bite to eat, etc.

Portlaw is on the other side of Waterford city, to its west. The services there bring children into St. Paul's College, my former secondary school, and the Presentation secondary school. The bus route also passes through Kilmeaden and Butlerstown, the UPMC Whitfield Hospital, the industrial estate and the main campus of South East Technological University, SETU, on the Cork Road. Portlaw has a high proportion of households experiencing transport deprivation, that is, they do not have a car or struggle with the cost of running a car.

This matter is a litmus test for our commitment to the Connecting Ireland strategy that seeks to improve public transport services in rural Ireland. We know the challenge we have ahead of us in respect of decarbonising our transport systems and ensuring that people living in small towns, such as Portlaw, Passage East and Dunmore East, have access to the services they need to reach our larger towns and cities. The people of Portlaw, Passage East and Dunmore East are worried, and rightly so. Has the Minister engaged with the National Transport Authority, NTA, on this issue? Will we be able to provide continuity of service on this route from 31 October onwards?

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