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

To respond to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, our Department will be looking at the roads allocation for both national and regional roads now. It will have to be agreed with Transport Infrastructure Ireland. That will be developed and agreed with TII before the end of the year. I absolutely agree that we need to maintain maintenance funding for roads because, once a road falls below a certain standard, it costs a lot more to bring it back. I agree on the likes of the roads on the Ring of Kerry and bridges on such roads. It is very important that they get first priority in our spending allocations.

I absolutely agree with Deputy Ó Laoghaire. There is a significant issue with public transport in the city of Cork. I attended a meeting with Cork City Council recently at which we agreed that we need more drivers and mechanics. Bus Éireann is engaged in that process but that will not deliver a reliable timetable on its own. We agreed with the council on ten ways to ease some of the congestion that is crippling the city and in which buses are getting stuck. The councillors agreed that they would look at these provisions and that they would give buses better priority so the timetable is put back on a proper footing.

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