Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)

I fully support BusConnects. As the Minister of State mentioned, there is major investment going into that programme, which has been under way for a number of years. Nonetheless, it is important that it is accessible. The Clongriffin corridor of BusConnects is heading for CPO in my own area, and it will plug into the great work done by Dublin City Council on the C2CC. However, we have had accessibility issues raised with us by constituents in regard to phase 7 of that roll-out.

The 123 bus service in my and Deputy Heneghan’s area was well used and was an essential service for many. It has now been replaced by the NTA with a new route, the 73, which travels down Gardiner Street on the east side of the northside, leaving elderly commuters with an additional 400 m to walk to get to O'Connell Street and to get back to the bus. How is this accessible for elderly commuters? If people are heading back to the northside, there is now no stop between Ormond Quay and Eden Quay, which is a distance of nearly 1 km. How is this accessible for elderly commuters? For citizens with mobility challenges, this is a very serious barrier to accessing the north city centre.

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