Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Reilly for the question. I will take this response on behalf of the Minister for Transport. Public transport is also pertinent in my own consistency of Dublin Rathdown. I understand the points the Deputy is making on the quality and the frequency of public transport, the disappearing buses - the Deputy mentioned Lusk as well - and having accessible and reliable public transport. I will certainly bring that to the attention of the Minister. I will outline some of the comments that he has given me in response to the Deputy's query.

The national sustainable mobility policy and its five-year action plan, which was published last year, provide strong policy support to the continued expansion and enhancement of public transport services. The Minister for Transport is delighted to say that this strong policy support has been backed up by increased levels of Exchequer funding, which is supporting the roll-out of initiatives such as those the Deputy has mentioned: MetroLink, BusConnects Dublin and DART+. MetroLink will be a fully segregated and mostly underground new rail line from the Swords area to Charlemont in the south of Dublin city centre. It is a key project under the national development plan.

A significant milestone in the progression of the MetroLink project was cleared in July 2022 when the Minister secured decision gate 1 approval under the public spending code from the Cabinet for the project. This decision enabled the project to move to a planning application stage and in September last year, Transport Infrastructure Ireland submitted a railway order application to An Bord Pleanála.

Under the national development plan, BusConnects programmes will be substantially delivered in all of Ireland’s five cities by the end of the decade. BusConnects Dublin will provide more sustainable, accessible and reliable transport options, resulting in a higher quality service. By revitalising public transport and providing safe active travel routes, the project represents a necessary modal shift away from private transport. I am aware that the Deputy has concerns in relation to that, as she has mentioned.

The programme preliminary business case for BusConnects Dublin and the detailed project brief for next-generation ticketing were approved by the Government in March 2022. The network redesign for the entire Dublin network is being rolled out over 11 phases and currently the National Transport Authority, NTA, expects it to be completed by the end of 2025. This will bring significantly enhanced services to north Dublin. This includes the local buses around Swords, in Skerries and in the surrounding areas. The Dublin area network has been redesigned to provide co-ordinated spine services on the main radial corridors to and from the city centre together with better orbital and local connections. There will be more buses across the day and the 24-7 network is also being expanded.

The main changes in north County Dublin are currently planned for introduction in the early part of 2025, including the A-spine between Dublin city centre and Swords via the airport, a new orbital link via the M50 between Swords and Blanchardstown, and expanded local services. A service from Balbriggan to the airport via Skerries and Swords will be co-ordinated with services from Donabate to Swords and the airport to give regular intervals across the day.

The 90-minute fare, which has been introduced as part of BusConnects, offers free transfers between bus, DART, suburban rail and Luas. Together with the expanded and co-ordinated network, this simplifies journeys involving interchange and increases accessibility. There is also the DART+ programme, which will transform rail services across the greater Dublin area when fully rolled out.

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