John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For public transport to work, it needs to be accessible, affordable and reliable. However, under existing Government policy and the previous Government's policy of privatisation, that simply is not happening. Four years ago, 10% of the Dublin Bus fleet was privatised and handed over to a private operator, Go-Ahead Ireland. Since that time, it has been a disaster. I have stood here in this House many a time, in front of the Minister of State and her departmental colleague, raising the serious issues relating to Go-Ahead, which has left communities completely isolated, abandoned and simply forgotten.

In Wicklow, three routes were privatised, namely, the 45A, the 185 and the 184. Not a day goes by when somebody is not in touch with me to complain that the bus simply did not show up or was cancelled or that the driver had changed the route, with the passengers on board, because it was running behind schedule and had to make up time. It simply is not working. Yesterday evening, for example, on one of those routes, the 45A, seven buses were cancelled. That was on just one bus route in Wicklow, but it is a daily occurrence. Privatisation simply has not worked; it has failed. I ask the Minister of State and her colleague the Minister for Transport to act now, revoke the licence that was issued to Go-Ahead, take it back under public control and ownership and let Dublin Bus do what it does best, namely, run the bus service that is fit for purpose and will serve the communities it is supposed to serve.

Wicklow is also a constituency that has been failed by the extension of the short-hop zone. The short-hop zone goes as far as Kilcoole. I have raised continuously the need to extend it as far as Arklow but the answer I get back from the NTA and the Minister is that it will not be considered because too many people would use it. That is absolutely crazy given people are sitting in their cars on the N11 in congestion. They should be incentivised to use public transport and the trains but, again, the failure of the Government will ensure they are confined to traffic in their cars.

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