Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We are committed to improving public transport in rural and urban areas across the country. A key deliverable among the policies we have put in place is the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan. TFI Local Link services are responsible for the vast majority of new routes under Connecting Ireland. The latest figures from October last year show Local Link delivered 17 of the 25 new and enhanced services. They, therefore, have a leading role in delivering that policy commitment. In the context of their central role, I met with Local Link representatives in December to discuss the future development of the services.

Connecting Ireland aims to provide better connections between villages and towns by linking them with an enhanced regional network connecting cities and regional centres nationwide. This will be achieved by expanding Local Link services and prioritising public transport projects that enhance connectivity. To this end, I have secured increased funding for public transport in rural Ireland to improve services across the country. In addition, I have sought to ensure that our key policy statements, such as the climate action plan and the sustainable mobility policy, recognise the importance of public transport in rural Ireland and set challenging targets to ensure continued improvement in the years ahead.

The NTA is also responsible for delivering the roll-out of Connecting Ireland by procuring the provision of TFI Local Link and Connecting Ireland services, including with individual public transport commercial operators. The wider project will be achieved through a dedicated professional team of network planners, procurement specialists, contract managers and marketing professionals. In implementing these services, NTA works collaboratively with the Local Link team across each of the 15 Local Link offices, with Bus Éireann, which is operating a significant number of the new or enhanced services and with commercial operators that are also providing public transport services in rural Ireland.

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