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

I thank the Deputy and I have noted her concerns, especially around safe active travel which of course is hugely important. We want to incentivise people to be able to cycle as opposed to using their vehicle. I will bring that to the attention of the Minister because obviously one should be in a position to be able to cycle through the constituency when needed. I am not familiar with the 33X but I will bring that to the attention of the Minister and the Ministers of State in the Department also.

The Deputy referred to double and single deck buses. I will also bring that point to the Minister. I will of course ask the Minister to engage with the Lusk action group, which the Deputy has asked for. I also note the Deputy's comments around smaller projects.

For the Deputy's information, there has not been any delay in relation to MetroLink. The focus now is to secure Government decision gate 2 approval to allow that project to proceed to tendering. That is the intention of the Government as I understand it. There were some delays in relation to BusConnects because firstly there was a huge public consultation process. That process required time and the issues raised during it also required time for further design work. I understand this was a very positive process. There were also some delays around Covid-19 impacts and there were also delays around the roll-out of elements of the network redesign due to issues with driver recruitment. Just more recently, work on the construction of the core bus corridors had to be postponed due to delays at An Bord Pleanála. Because of these delays, construction of the Clongriffin core bus corridor, the first scheme expected to go to gateway decision 2 in 2023, has been pushed back to 2024. This is just for the Deputy's own information because I am aware of her concerns around the buses.

I note the Deputy's comments and her contribution today and I will bring it the attention of the Department and the Ministers.

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