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

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire. As he is aware, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding for public transport, which means that neither I nor my officials are involved in the planning of public transport services, such as those referred to by the Deputy. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public transport services rests with the NTA, which works with the public transport operators, for example Bus Éireann in the Douglas area, which deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operations.

That said, from a policy and funding perspective, I assure the Deputy that I am strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal.

To support this objective, a funding package of €613 million has been secured for the public service obligation, PSO, 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 until the end of this year. Funding has also been secured to support the continued roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services this year.

In Cork, Bus Éireann is working with the NTA to examine what steps can be taken to improve service provision in the city and counter the impact of issues such as traffic congestion. The NTA has advised my Department that work is currently ongoing with BusConnects Cork, including the commencement of preliminary design work for core bus corridors in Cork. Significant improvements are being made to the bus network in Douglas, including a new orbital route 14, running from Cork University Hospital to Little Island via Douglas, and a new route 46 to Passage via Carrigmahon, and enhancements to service on other alignments.

According to the NTA, this will give excellent accessibility to and from schools in and around the area, while also providing benefits to a wide range of other users. School demand will be taken into account when setting timetables and capacity. To be clear, in line with its public transport remit, the NTA has no plans to operate a dedicated school service in the area. It is the Department of Education which has responsibility for the school transport scheme. I want to repeat that I am strongly committed to improving public transport services throughout the country and to piloting new transport initiatives for people of all ages and abilities, including students. This is especially important to affect a modal shift from the private car to public transport to meet our climate and sustainable development targets. The Deputy might be interested to learn that my Department and the Department of Education are currently investigating the potential for better integration between the existing school transport scheme and public transport services in rural Ireland. This also aligns with the recommendations contained with the school transport scheme review around the integration of public and school transport to meet our climate action plan targets. The ultimate aim is to support a co-ordinated delivery of services and to maximise the number of sustainable trips to and from the schools. A steering group comprised of my Department, the Department of Education, the NTA and Bus Éireann is currently finalising potential locations for these integration pilots. In conclusion, I wish to 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, including in the Douglas area of Cork city.

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