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

I thank the Minister of State for her response, but I could nearly short-circuit the NTA process of assessing whether this impending situation will give rise to any loss of connectivity in the area. It will, because no other operator provides services from Dunmore East and Portlaw into Waterford city centre. I received word previously that this matter is a high priority for the NTA, but I would like a timeline in this regard. The clock is ticking. Six weeks remain in which to decide that a PSO route must be put in place or to see if Local Link operators in the area - and we have an exceptional such operator providing services from the west of the county - will be asked to take on this route or to determine how this problem is going to be solved. In any event, we have six weeks in which to provide continuity of service for all people in Dunmore East, Passage East and Portlaw who rely on it.

I reiterate that there certainly are instances of transport deprivation in these towns, especially Portlaw. There are people who rely on this service and without it, they will not, for example, be able to get their children to school, get to the doctor or be able to access groceries. There are no supermarkets in these towns and people rely on Waterford city for these types of services. There is, therefore, a need to accelerate this process.

We also need joined-up thinking in this regard. Portlaw is 5 km from Fiddown, which used to have a train station. Perhaps we should be considering reopening a station along that line and having more commuter trains, perhaps battery operated, running from Clonmel into Waterford. We need the different organs of the State's transport system to talk to each other. Can we get an idea of the timeline on the process the Minister of State referred to because, as I said, the clock is ticking? People rely on this bus service as their mode of transport and they need certainty that there will be continuity of provision.

See this speech in context