Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

In the past two weeks, I have been inundated with complaints about Go-Ahead Ireland buses not showing up. I have spoken to my colleague, Councillor Conor Reddy in Ballymun-Finglas. I have also spoken to Deputy Boyd Barrett, who represents Dún Laoghaire. It is clear to me that this is not just an issue in Tallaght or Dublin South-West. It is the same story everywhere that Go-Ahead Ireland has a contract to operate bus services. The S6, S8, N6 and N2 all provide the same terrible service. I am not talking about a ghost bus here or there. In some cases, half the buses have been cancelled, leaving people late for work, school and college. Cancellations and ghost buses have been an ongoing issue with these privatised routes but in the past few weeks, it has become absolutely ridiculous.

I will give the House some examples from people who have contacted me. One person said that their 14-year-old son gets the S6 bus service from Rathfarnham to his secondary school in Booterstown every day. My correspondent went on to state that the service has been appalling ever since the family started using it in 2023. Services are often cancelled and sometimes consecutive buses are cancelled and the following buses are therefore full. As one can imagine, this leads to extremely long waiting times and lateness for school. My correspondent went on to state that in the past few months, the service has deteriorated even further and has become utterly unreliable. My correspondent tells me they have contacted Go-Ahead several times but have received no response at all.

A UCD student contacted me to say he was late for lectures three days in a row because of cancellations, delays and overloaded S6s that did not stop. He said that many young people like him are considering buying cars because public transport is so unreliable.

Another parent contacted me to say that she had to pay for her daughter to get taxis to her college exams because they did not trust the buses to get her there on time, if at all. Once her daughter gets her driving licence, she says, she does not see why she would ever use a bus again.

The S6 from Tallaght to Blackrock and back is the route most often reported to the no-show bus tracker of the Dublin Inquirer. The statistics of the National Transport Authority, NTA, show that one in three S6s fails to arrive within seven minutes of the advertised departure time. It is no coincidence. All of these testimonies and complaints are about privatised services that are operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, which is more concerned with making profits than providing a decent and reliable bus service. The latest excuse is that it does not have enough mechanics and that is why buses are out of service. Why does it not have enough mechanics? It is because Go-Ahead Ireland has worse terms and conditions than Dublin Bus. It understandably cannot attract mechanics. Why does it have worse terms and conditions? It is in order to maximise profits at the expense of workers and passengers.

The Government's response has been to repeatedly fine Go-Ahead Ireland for its terrible service. In 2023, it was fined €3 million. Go-Ahead Ireland stated that the problem was staff shortages and promised to rapidly recruit more staff. Here we are again nearly two years later. What is the Government's response? It is to give Go-Ahead Ireland more routes. Last month, the NTA gave Go-Ahead Ireland a new €50 million contract to operate an outer Dublin metropolitan area bus service from next October. Go-Ahead Ireland might leave its customers waiting but we can be sure that its shareholders will not be left waiting for dividends.

Will the Government instruct the NTA to give Go-Ahead Ireland's routes back to Dublin Bus? Instead of pursuing privatisation, will the Government commit to investing the billions of euros from the Government surplus and the Apple tax money into improving and expanding bus services? Will it invest in desperately needed new public transport infrastructure, such as metro north, metro south west and additional Luas lines?

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