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

I will make a wider point that Bus Éireann has a real challenge, as all our bus companies do, in getting drivers. This is across public and private services in every part of the country. Bus Éireann, however, is proving to be incredibly successful at present. I remember meeting Mr. Kent a year or two ago, when he said we might get up to 100 million passenger journeys last year. It actually had 106 million. The traffic numbers on Bus Éireann buses is 20% above pre-Covid levels. Some 3,000 people work in the company. It employed 337 new drivers last year and a further 93 in the first quarter of this year. It is a company that has seen a huge increase in passenger numbers and a large number of new routes being rolled out. It has a key role in the likes of Cork in delivery of bus services.

To help Bus Éireann and to make this happen, we need all the recruitment efforts but we also need to deliver BusConnects in Cork so that bus drivers and their passengers are not stuck in traffic. That has been challenging. There has been quite an extensive consultation process in the city. In fairness to the NTA and Cork city and county councils, they have amended the plans. I believe they are now at a stage where they are ready to go. We still have to go through a very extensive planning process, which is probably the most frustrating thing as regards delays or timelines. That has proven to be a real difficulty. However, subject to us introducing that, the bus drivers we have will be much more effective because they will be on buses that will fly through traffic rather than be stuck in it.

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