Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. The context to all of this is that in September 2020, Bus Éireann announced that the 20X20 route between Galway and Dublin was to be discontinued as and from July 2021. At that time, the NTA granted a licence for the Aircoach 706 706X commercial service, which has then being running since July 2021 with ten departures each way, seven days a week. At that time, I raised this with the Minister and the NTA and was told that private operators would fill the gap left by the 20X20. However, this has proven to be a failure as well. Public transport is a public service that cannot simply be left to private operators. We need to make sure we have a public transport system that is working. I frequently hear from people in Loughrea in particular, that the bus that was meant to replace the 20X20 passes them by without stopping due to it being full. I hear what the Minister is saying. How long will this process take? When is he going to make sure there is some type of service available to people so that they can get that access to Dublin Airport?

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