Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for bringing forward this motion. It is certainly a motion that my party and I are very much looking forward to supporting. One of the starkest differences between Ireland and other European countries is our poor public transport system. Under successive Governments, one abandoned or delayed public transport plan has followed another. The Minister will agree that transport policy has generationally focused on moving cars in Ireland instead of moving people. My experience as a public representative over the past number of years tells me that what policy should be doing is moving people away from cars towards what should be reliable, efficient and affordable public transport. Certainly, in commuter belts like Kildare, what we are doing is driving people away from public transport and back to their cars. This is something we need to reflect on.

I will highlight some policy pieces that represent core failings of previous Governments. I hope the Minister will take my comments on board and bring them back to his Department. The first concerns BusConnects. In Kildare, BusConnects has emphatically disconnected communities. It has had the completely opposite effect to that intended. I am speaking about communities in Leixlip and Celbridge, which had quite functional Dublin Bus services that brought them to and from shops and work. They are now completely disenfranchised from the communities they need to access. There are no public transport links to hospitals, including children's hospitals. Regardless of whether it is the C3, which terminates in Maynooth via Leixlip, or the C4, which terminates in Celbridge, what we have here are routes that are completely dysfunctional. I implore the Minister and the Minister for State to ask the officials who drew up these routes for the C3 and C4 to use them. They should use these routes and then tell me they are functional, because there is a difference between what were meant to be joined-up routes and services and people left waiting a serious amount of time for buses to arrive. It is just not working. A total of €660 million had been spent up to May on a project that has disconnected communities. We have some serious questions to answer.

I would appreciate hearing the Minister's thoughts on people with disabilities having to give 24 hours notice before they use public transport. In 2025, that is no longer acceptable. This is a rights-based issue, and I would like to see something coming from Government with regard to it. Kildare North is a very young and vibrant constituency where young people are trying to socialise, work and access Dublin city using a service like the 120 that finishes at 11 p.m. or 11.30 p.m on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This route is also completely fractured. The Minister might look at whether we could extend the service on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to allow young people to socialise in town without having to worry about getting a bus home or without driving people back into their cars.

As part of BusConnects, nearly €9 million has been spent on contactless fares. On the basis of replies to parliamentary questions, this project will not come to fruition until 2028. Where is that money going? Given the backlog in driving tests for young people, would the Minister as part of the next budget consider putting €100 on the Leap card for anyone on a waiting list for a driving test for more than ten or 12 weeks? This would give people an incentive to use whatever public transport is available be it rail or Local Link.

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