Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will bring up a similar issue. It is not only the lack of bus drivers. Sometimes, it is the issue of the number of buses and the state of some of them. Yesterday, there were five cancellations of the 100X expressway, which is the Dundalk to Dublin bus. It is the bus that goes to the airport so it can be imagined how much of a disaster cancellations are for people trying to avoid bringing their car to Dublin and pay the parking fees in the airport. Two such buses were cancelled this morning, the 6.30 a.m. service and the 8.30 a.m. service. People were told at very short notice; I think it went on the website after 7 a.m. Bus Éireann has eight low entry, LE, type buses on this route but they are more than 12 years old. Some of them have more than 1 million km on the clock and are breaking down. There are five buses in the garage at present. NTA public service obligation, PSO, buses are available but Bus Éireann is not able to use them. This is a real issue, especially at this time of year. I ask the Minister to engage so we can get a solution to the problem in the short and long term.

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