Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. It is time that the Minister for Transport, the NTA and Go-Ahead Ireland put the Covid baby down and start taking responsibility for not providing the service that, as the Minister of State says, it is paid to do. It is incredible that a Green Party Minister, the Minister for Transport, is saying that it is not his responsibility to provide these services and make sure buses turn up on time. That is absolutely incredible because when I see press releases and photo opportunities in relation to buses, the Minister is there with them. I would like him to take responsibility for the non-provision of public transport services within Wicklow.

That so many Deputies from different parts of the country and different parties have raised the issue of Go-Ahead Ireland and have identified problems with it is a clear indication that the Minister needs to intervene now and needs to take this under control. The Minister needs to ensure that whoever the State is paying to provide this service is doing what they are paid to do so that people can expect to get a bus when the bus is scheduled to be there.

I thank the Minister of State for her response. I also want to quickly mention another transport issue. I ask the Minister of State to bring it to the Minister for his attention. In July 2021, a bus service provider in west Wicklow, Premier Coaches, applied to operate a direct route from Dublin to Blessington. It took a year of work with the NTA to get that route - route 863 - officially accepted. That was done in August 2022. Many people in the Blessington and west Wicklow community are relying on this route to get them into Dublin. They are still awaiting a start date for this route. I ask the Minister of State to pass that on to the Minister and to ask him to come back to me with an update on it because this is an important route as well.

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