Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Whitmore for raising this very important matter. I concur completely that the biggest need is for bus services to be reliable and on time. We share the belief that should not just be an aspiration but a reality for the consumer, the travelling public. I thank the Deputy and appreciate the issues she has outlined in her contribution. I commit to bringing the issues she has raised back to the Department. I have not got all the answers for her this morning as I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien.

I clarify at the beginning that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The NTA has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and works with the public transport operators that deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That said, I reassure the Deputy that, as outlined in the programme for Government, Securing Ireland’s Future, the Government is strongly committed to enhancing transportation networks and infrastructure development and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, under budget 2025 the Department of Transport secured €658.442 million of funding for PSO and TFI Local Link services. This represents an increase from €613.813 million in 2024. This package includes funding for the continuation of the various fare initiatives, such as the young adult card and the 90-minute fare until the end of 2025. Funding has also been provided to extend free child fares on PSO services to include those aged five to eight years old and to support the roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services under programmes such as BusConnects and Connecting Ireland.

The Deputy is right when she says that we can have all those wonderful measures but if the service is not reliable and there is an issue with buses not being on time or not turning up, all of that counts for nothing. I concur as a Member who lives in an urban constituency and understands the importance of the issues the Deputy is speaking of. The Deputy is right and I will bring that back this afternoon.

BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system to provide better bus services across our cities. It is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State and is managed by the NTA. The aim of the network is to improve the existing Transport for Ireland system through enhanced services with high-frequency spines and new orbital and radial routes. Phase 6a involves the E-spine of the Bus Connects network redesign project. It was launched on 26 January 2025 and includes the introduction of two 24-hour spines - routes E1 and E2 - which serve areas including Bray, the city centre, Ballymun and Santry. It also provides new local and Xpress routes including L1, L2, L3, L12, L14, L15, L26, L27, X1 and X2 serving Greystones, Newcastle, Kilternan, Blackrock and more. The Bray to city centre core bus corridor will support integrated sustainable transport usage through infrastructure improvements for active travel and the provision of enhanced bus priority measures for all services that will use the corridor. The aim of these works is to provide improved bus, cycling and walking infrastructure on this key access corridor in the Dublin region, which will enable and deliver efficient, safe and integrated sustainable transport movement along the corridor. The core bus corridor scheme is a key measure that delivers on commitments within the National Development Plan 2021-2030, the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022-2042, the Climate Action Plan and the National Planning Framework 2040.

I understand the Department of Transport is engaging with the NTA regarding recent issues concerning particular bus services that are, as outlined by Deputy Whitmore, operated by Go-Ahead Ireland across some of its greater Dublin area routes. I am advised these issues are linked to fleet reliability issues across its network of services in Dublin due to a shortfall of mechanics. As the Deputy rightly said, the company has advertised for this role. This has had a knock-on impact on the routes launched in the Bray and Greystones area on 26 January as part of phase 6a of the BusConnects network redesign programme. The NTA will continue to monitor the situation closely. It is receiving daily reports from Go-Ahead Ireland on service availability by route. I have been advised the latest reports indicate a significant improvement in the situation. I will be interested to hear the Deputy's reply on that. I reassure her that all of us - the Department of Transport, the NTA and the public transport operators - must work to ensure the customer has a reliable service, as she has outlined, and the resources will meet passenger demand. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

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