Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Public transport is still very much non-existent in many parts of rural Ireland. We are still seeing the loss of services. Last summer, the Dublin-Galway X20 bus service was taken away, which particularly impacted the likes of Aughrim and Ballinasloe in east Galway. That services are still being lost very much flies in the face of the green agenda and encouraging people to get out of their cars and take public transport. The roll-out of Connecting Ireland has been welcomed by Sinn Féin. However, only slightly more than €5 million has been spent on it this year. We need that funding to be front-loaded so that services are put in place and then built on. Likewise, there have recently been long-awaited changes to Local Link, including in County Roscommon. Those changes are welcome but we need Local Link to be promoted far better and we need it to continue to be built on going forward.

In many cases, the rail services that are currently in place are totally inadequate. There are rarely enough carriages to meet demand. If we are encouraging people to get out of their cars and take a train, particularly to commute, the lack of seats is a significant problem. Timetables also need to be considered. Irish Rail will repeatedly say that increased capacity needs to be considered. We need to ensure we meet demand. There is a particular issue with capacity on the Westport-Dublin line. There are never enough carriages and people are left standing or sitting in doorways. That should not happen. It is incredible that wheelchair users still have to give 24 hours' notice to get on a train. That is wrong and should not happen. It shows how far we have to go in respect of disability services when it comes to transport in the State.

I refer to the west and north west. The inclusion of the western rail corridor in the Trans-European Transport Network, TEN-T, to guarantee that funding is critical for the region. In 2019, the west and north west was downgraded from a developed region to a region in transition. It has now been downgraded again, to a lagging region. This is a serious situation that the Government is ignoring. That is why the region has been downgraded again. Critical infrastructure is key, and that includes transport.

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