James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Starting with Deputy Smyth on the east-west corridor, I thank her for hosting that day and indeed the officials in Cavan County Council. I will come back to the east-west project and I am not aware that it is included in the national development plan, NDP, but I am aware that the presentation which the officials gave that day certainly took note of that and it is in progression with the Department.

The Deputy may be interested in two other projects in her area. These are the Virginia bypass, which has delivered a preliminary business case and is expected to go to planning next year. I know that she has been a constant advocate for that. I also mention in Monaghan the Clontibret to the Border region part of the N2 project, which is advancing with the EU's Connecting Europe Facility funding, which is probably of interest to the north-west area in general and it may be relevant to that project also.

On Deputy McAuliffe's projects, it is important to acknowledge his constant advocacy for public transport in the north Dublin area. We also visited a Luas Finglas site recently with regard to the preferred route. With regard to BusConnects, I am aware of teething troubles and issues at local micro level on the different projects but it is a project at scale. There are 12 spines across the city being envisaged, which are also taking place in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. It is also a national approach which brings me back to a discussion earlier to have regional bands, etc. I agree with the Deputy that there is a need to start realising the benefits. We need to go from the concept of the planning stage through to delivery, and successful implementation. That is something that I think the next Government will have to grasp the nettle on. We have done the planning and prepared the shovels. Let us now get the buses up and running on those routes.

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