Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I had a feeling that was what would come back but I wanted to raise this matter for the following reason. People are going on about the carbon footprint. For one thing, there is a carbon footprint in running 13 daily services from Youghal all the way to Cork city and all the way back. I understand many of these services do not run at peak time but the peak services are probably the most important for connectivity.

The express route is definitely a problem because that is the one that starts early in the morning and is always full because people are getting to school, to their appointments and to the city early. The point I am trying to make is if 13 daily services are in use, and every single one of them are passing Midleton and going another, let us say,13 miles further up the road to the city, would it not make sense to shorten those journeys and have that connectivity coming from Youghal, through Killeagh and Castlemartyr, pulling in the hinterland of the likes of Shanagarry and maybe as far as Ballycotton and so on? It would shorten that journey into the train station. That makes more sense and there would be more connectivity. In fairness, and I always give credit where credit is due, there will be major investment on the Midleton to Cork route. A double line will go in and the frequency will increase. It is an extremely busy rail line as it stands.

I thank the Minister of State for the answer. As I said, it is about how to make the best of the resources we have, when 13 daily services are being run to the city. Bus Éireann said that service has an average of 22 people, although I do not believe that to be honest. I often try to get the bus from Youghal to Midleton and I cannot get on it, even on a Saturday. However, I take the Minister of State's response on board. I will go back to the people who raised this issue. I will flag that I think resources could be used a lot more efficiently on this route. It does not make sense. The connection from Belfast to Derry has a park and ride in the middle of nowhere and it is jammers. It is just about resources.

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