Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

BusConnects is going to make a real difference. It was held up for many reasons. I would suggest that there were initially route design flaws in much of the BusConnects project when it was first published, but that has been rectified. As I said earlier in response to a question, we will see the first BusConnects corridor under construction this year. We have three that are through planning. Rather, 12 are through planning, but a number are being judicially reviewed, which is another story.

The Deputy is right about the €97 that was spent in 2022. I have know idea what that was. As the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, said, it might have been to replace a wing mirror on a bus. Without being facetious about it, further investment is unquestionably needed. I know the Deputy's area very well. It is a major growth area. It is a young area too. The Deputy will have heard a number of other positive developments relating to additional services mentioned already this evening. We have to look at existing services and their reliability. I will bring the Deputy's intervention and feedback this evening directly to the NTA, which reports to me at the end of the day. It selects and approves the routes and route changes, but we need to make sure that it listens to public representatives too.

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