John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for the additional latitude, which I appreciate. Some of the items the Minister of State has brought to us are really good news. The first is that Transport Infrastructure Ireland is considering a Luas fleet renewal. It is not overdue, but it is welcome, as is the fact that it is looking at increasing the number of trams assigned to the Luas red line. I would encourage the Minister of State to bring feedback to the Minister and tell him that would be really worthwhile. I certainly support it, as I know do all of the TDs for the area. Will the Minister keep us in touch with the timelines for that?

The driver absence rate going from 5% to 12% is unacceptable. The Minister needs to know why that is happening. While he says he does not have statutory responsibility he is the Minister, and every so often he needs to call people in, knock a few heads together and ask them to explain why absences were so high last year. There are consequences to absences, which mean trams do not show up. They do not run according to timetables and people get stranded at tram stops late at night. There are security concerns. There is a highly mobile workforce in Citywest that is reliant on public transport for all the reasons I have mentioned.

In addition, the chair of Citywest community council made a point to the NTA last November and it has taken until now for the NTA to put response on the record. There is no surprise there. In terms of communications, the NTA needs to up its game. It was indicated to it that there are seven more apartment complexes almost complete in Citywest, and more to come. The provision of public transport, in particular the Luas, is vital. The improvement, extension and expansion of red line services, new trams, longer trams, bigger trams, greater capacity and more regularity is absolutely vital to this growing suburb of Dublin in my constituency.

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