Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this important topic, which I am taking on behalf of our colleague the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. From the outset, I clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority. The NTA works with the public transport operators, which deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters.

That said, I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2026 the Department of Transport secured €940 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and TFI Local Link services. That was a significant 43% uplift, an increase from €658.4 million in 2025. BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, providing 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 local, orbital and radial routes.

The recently launched F spine, providing routes F1, F2, and F3 as part of phase 7 of the BusConnects network redesign, introduces high-frequency 24-hour bus services - routes F1, F2 and 80 - on key corridors, enhancing connectivity between areas such as Tallaght, Finglas, Charlestown and the city centre. This redesign under phase 7 of BusConnects also introduced new radial services - routes 23, 24, 73 and 82 - and the new local route - route L89 - to streamline the network and make services more efficient. The NTA has advised that in advance of these new routes being implemented it distributed over 200,000 booklets to households across all the areas covered by the routes. It also advertised the new services in local media outlets and online, and it provided detailed briefings to local public representatives.

Separately, the NTA reported a technical fault in the Dublin Bus priority system, which adjusts traffic light signals to ease bus movement. The system malfunctioned for three consecutive days, causing unforeseen delays and significant frustration for customers. The issue was resolved last Wednesday and performance is expected to steadily improve. This issue was separate from the BusConnects new service roll-out, but it impacted all affected Dublin bus routes.

The performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators. Importantly, these contractual arrangements allow not only for the monitoring of performance by the NTA and the publication of its annual performance reports, but also for the imposition of financial penalties where performance does not meet the required standards. Improvements are also being introduced to the vehicle location system and real-time passenger information, all of which will improve the reliability of the system. The NTA informed the Minister that it is carefully monitoring capacity and reliability during these early days of the new services and will continue to monitor situations, adjusting where appropriate. I am conscious that is not the experience the Deputy had, though.

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