Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I will take the Deputy's concerns back to the NTA and I thank her and the people in Connecting Communities. I know my previous colleague, former Senator Seery-Kearney, had been active on behalf of residents.

The first thing is that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport, but the Minister or his officials do not have responsibility for the day to day operation of public transport services. That falls to the NTA, as the Deputy knows. The NTA, on behalf of Government, works with public transport operators to deliver services and has responsibility for day to day operational matters.

In the context of BusConnects, the NTA is the group that is in charge of its implementation. I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and useful sustainable travel options and public transport is an important part of that. BusConnects is critical to that offering. In budget 2025, €658 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, in my case was obtained through the Department for Local Link services, which represents an increase from the €613 million. However, we have been encouraging young people through the fare reduction, the young adult card on commercial bus services and the 90-minute fare until the end of this year. There is also funding for those aged between five and eight years old. The main point we must both work on is to make sure that BusConnects is transformative for our bus system, providing a better bus service across our cities, particularly in Dublin, for the people who use this service.

The key elements of BusConnects in Dublin include the construction of segregated bus and cycling lanes, or core bus corridors, as well as a redesigned network of services. I am pleased to announce that An Bord Pleanála has now approved all 12 core bus corridor applications, and I expect to see the first of these corridors enter construction later this year. The primary aim of the redesigned bus network in BusConnects Dublin is to improve the existing bus system through enhanced services with high-frequency spines and new local, orbital and radial routes. The bus network changes in Inchicore form part of this city-wide programme. New services are being provided, running with co-ordinated timetables at high-frequency along each of the main radial corridors to and from the city centre. This is combined with new inter-suburban and local routes. Free interchange is available using the 90-minute fare. As the Deputy is well aware, the new BusConnects Dublin network is being implemented in stages. For Inchicore, phase 4 saw the introduction of the G spine routes connecting Ballyfermot, Liffey Valley and the Red Cow to the Docklands via Inchicore. These services are all operated by Dublin Bus on a 24-hour basis. The NTA has advised that there has been a 25% increase in passenger boardings following the introduction of new services provided under phase 4 of the roll-out, compared with equivalent routes operating prior to the launch of this phase.

For Inchicore, the current routes 13, 68 and 69 will be replaced as part of the D spine. Specifically, the overall replacement for route 13 will be the new route D3 running from Clongriffin to Clondalkin via Crumlin, while routes 68 and 69 are being replaced locally by a new route 58. I am informed by the NTA that these changes are planned for the first half of next year. I have been advised that the NTA is aware of the concerns of residents about new route 58 in Inchicore and will write to representatives about this in the near future. Engagement with the Deputy and other public representatives is critical. I will bring her comments back to the NTA.

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