Charles Ward (Donegal, 100% Redress Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Gorman, and his staff for putting forward this motion on the public transport experience. I fully support the motion and its call for public transport that is affordable, accessible, convenient, connected and safe. In particular the motion seeks to ensure the full implementation of the Connecting Ireland rural bus programme. Developing transport in rural Ireland is very important as many transport services in rural parts of the country are poorly developed and unreliable. This is an issue that comes up time and again for my constituents in Donegal where people are unable to rely on public transport to get to where they need to go when they need to go there.

We also have issues in Donegal where we have no real network, which means we have no alternative to buses. Most of the people, therefore, are forced to rely on cars. This has negative impacts on the environment and contributes to the chronic traffic issues we currently have in parts of Donegal.

I have said it before that Letterkenny is a disaster. The Polestar roundabout is often gridlocked. Emergency services are constantly struggling to reach Letterkenny Hospital. What used to be a five minute journey now takes 45 minutes and is putting lives at risk. This weekend traffic will be even heavier with the Donegal International Rally. It is expected that more than 70,000 people will attend. I take this opportunity to wish the participants in the Donegal International Rally the best of luck. I urge all those attending on the roads to look out for each other and be safe.

There is always a higher risk of accidents when more cars are on the roads, so relying on cars as the only mode of transport, as we do in Donegal, is very dangerous. It also creates a higher risk of drink driving as people in rural areas often do not have access to alternative modes of transport home. This severely affects the night-time economy in Donegal. Across Donegal pubs, clubs and hotels are closing down because people are unable to travel to and from them in a safe manner. Rural pubs are often used as community gathering spaces and their decline has an effect on people's ability to socialise and connect with each other. We need to extend the night-time services to generate more business for the local night-time economies, for pubs, clubs and hotels. We need to develop frequent, reliable and accessible transport that will ensure people in rural Ireland would not have to rely so heavily on cars.

The Bus Éireann service between Donegal town, Dublin and Letterkenny is a service I use. These routes are often not reliable, with the bus sometimes not turning up because it has broken down. These routes can often be overcrowded, particularly in the summer months when people use that service as a mode of transport to get to the airport. Typically, older people can be left stranded at the side the road because they have gone into the bus station to book the tickets. As they have not done it online, they cannot access the bus and they are left stranded at the side of the road. We need to focus on providing more transport infrastructure in Donegal such as bus shelters. We have very few shelters. There are only 20 or 30 throughout the county. People are standing at signs that say, "Bus", the rain is coming down on them and they have no shelter. It is like something from the 1970s.

We need to upgrade our infrastructure to facilitate those who use public transport the most: young people, older people and people with disabilities. From talking to members of the Irish Wheelchair Association recently, and to my constituents, it is clear that people with disabilities find public transport inaccessible and unreliable in Donegal. Our transport services do not cater for those with disability despite the fact these people rely so heavily on public transport. It is a disgrace that in this day and age these people are being left behind. Many wheelchair users in Donegal are, shamefully, isolated and left in their own homes due to a lack of accessible transport. We need a public transport system that works for everyone and leaves no one behind. This is what the Government should focus on.

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