Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this important topic which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan. At the outset, I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding regarding public transport but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day management, operation or planning of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority, NTA. The NTA works with the public transport operators who deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That said, I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable, realistic and sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, under budget 2024, a funding package of about €613 million has been secured for public service obligation and Local Link services. This package includes funding for the continuation of the 20% fare reduction on PSO services, the extension of the young adult card on both PSO and commercial bus services to include 24- and 25-year-olds, and the continuation of the 90-minute fare limit until the end of 2024. Funding has also been secured to support the continued roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services this year.

Turning to rural and regional areas, as I am sure the Deputy is aware, the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan has been a hugely successful programme since its implementation began in 2022, with, for example, passenger numbers on Transport for Ireland Local Link regular bus services increasing by 78% year on year to 3.2 million in 2023. Under Connecting Ireland, more than 100 new or additional services have been introduced since commencement in mid-2022. Under phase 1 in 2022, 38 new and enhanced services were implemented, while in phase 2 in 2023, 65 new and enhanced services were implemented. This means that in excess of 190 towns and villages have been connected to the public transport network and more than 280,000 people have access to new and enhanced bus services.

Regarding the specific services referred to by Deputy Ó Cuív, the NTA has advised that Galway Local Link is currently trialling additional stops on the Local Link 432 alignment. The NTA has agreed with Galway Local Link to operate smaller buses on this route to allow for a more flexible operation of the services and will discuss additional stops on the 431 bus service with Galway Local Link. The NTA also advised that it has no current plans to provide for regular services to operate to and from the Ros Muc peninsula.

In designing the 431 service, the NTA confirmed it has considered options for extending this route to Knock Airport. According to the NTA, extending the service to Knock Airport would have diminished the service frequency along the corridor as the additional journey time would have to be compensated with a loss of service elsewhere. This would have diminished the attractiveness of the service for most residents. The NTA does not have a current plan to extend the service to Knock Airport. However, it confirmed it will keep this under review in the future as the service develops. There are a number of bus services that operate regularly between Claremorris and Knock Airport, including the Bus Éireann 440, 64 and 964 services. It is possible to interchange between the Local Link 431 service and these services in Claremorris. The NTA’s journey planner can be used to see other public transport options.

I reassure the Deputy that the Department of Transport, the NTA and the operators are working to ensure the optimised deployment of resources across the public transport network to match changing passenger demand patterns.

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