John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Public transport needs to be accessible, affordable, frequent and reliable but that is certainly not the case at the moment. That is due to many issues but I wish to focus on the issue of privatisation. The policy of this Government and the previous Government to privatise particular routes has been a disaster in recent years. Go-Ahead now operates 30 routes that were previously operated by Dublin Bus. Since it took over the routes three years ago, it has been an unmitigated disaster. In my constituency of Wicklow, three routes were privatised, namely, the 184, 185 and 45A routes. I could list off case after case of people having been left abandoned at bus stops, waiting on buses that are running late or cancelled or simply do not show up. The result is that people are late for school, work or hospital appointments. It has been an unmitigated disaster right across those areas.

There is a solution to this, however, which is to take that contract off Go-Ahead. The NTA has a responsibility here. For the first six months of this year, fines of €850,000 have been issued to Go-Ahead for the Dublin routes alone. For all its routes, more than €1.15 million in fines have been issued to Go-Ahead. This month, the NTA has a decision to make as it can extend the contract by a further year. It is due to extend to October 2023. The NTA can extend that by another year, bringing it up to October 2024. A decision should be taken now not to extend the contract. However, the NTA and the Government need to go further and cancel that contract with Go-Ahead immediately and give it back to Dublin Bus, which can and will provide a reliable bus service for areas such as Enniskerry, Kilcoole, Kilmacanogue, Greystones, Bray and all the other areas in Wicklow and right across the 30 routes that are currently being let down by Go-Ahead, which has made an absolute disaster of the service it operates. As my party and I have stated repeatedly, privatisation has not worked. This is a prime example of how privatisation has failed. The onus is on the Government and the NTA to revoke the licence and reinstate a service that is fit for purpose.

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