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

If we take BusConnects in Dublin as an example, we have been introducing spines that are reorganising the routes and are designed to improve connectivity, and we now have to follow up with the corridors and build the physical infrastructure to improve bus times and make conditions for cycling and walking better. The evidence is that when we put in these new spines, straighten the routes and get the connectivity, that is where patronage is jumping up. There are always teething problems. I know from my area on the southside of Dublin, where the new orbitals have been put in, that it takes a while to get to know where the route is going. We have switched there, as an example, to ten-minute services, whereas previously passengers could have had to wait for an hour. That is a phenomenal increase and improvement in services.

Going back to the NTA and its role, it is building up significant expertise. It has a statutory role in that regard in Dublin. In the likes of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, rather than take powers from the local authority, which has to be central and key, we need to make the sure the NTA and the local authorities have the delivery capability to get through whatever planning system or approaches they take. That is one of the structural institutional issues we need to get right and those changes will need to be made through the Dáil.

I absolutely agree with the Deputy's fundamental first point. We need to develop inhouse skills and not always rely on consultants, because that means forever paying for someone to come back the next day. When expertise is built in house, it lasts longer.

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