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

I thank the Deputy. I fully recognise the points he is making and understand them. It is absolutely key, and I am someone who, throughout my career, has been committed to optimising the use of public transport and maximising the take-up of it. It is actually quite a simple formula to make that happen but it is a formula we have to deliver. It has to be affordable and at a reasonable price. We have done that with the PSO, the fare cuts and the young adult or student discounts etc. It has to be efficient. It has to be reliable and it has to turn up in the first place, turn up on time and meet the schedule, and it has to go where people need to go. It is that fourth limb that the Deputy is querying in this instance with respect to route selection.

As I have said, there are limitations to what any Minister can do under statute, the NTA regulations and so forth but I invite the Deputy and Deputy McAuliffe to engage with me in my office. I can see if a representation can be made to the NTA as to whether there can be a way through. I sympathise, and I am also aware of other routes, not least Confey and Leixlip in my own constituency, where there are similar eventualities occurring. A route that used to come down Captain's Hill and into town now involves a connection at the bottom of the road. They may seem like small issues but they are big issues to people who use the bus on a regular basis, particularly elderly people and people who rely on those services to get to town, to medical appointments, to meet family as the Deputy alluded to, and many other reasons. We need to make sure the service works for the people who ultimately need it.

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