John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State indicate what measures have been taken to address the serious mess that has developed in my constituency over the past three and half years, since the privatisation of a number of routes that were formerly operated by Dublin Bus? This followed the privatisation of three particular routes: Nos. 45A, 184 and 185. At a time where we are supposed to be encouraging people and enticing them to use more public transport, a poor service is being provided by Go-Ahead Ireland in my constituency. This has resulted in many people being left abandoned at bus stops because of services being cancelled at late notice. This has developed into a situation where people will not use those routes because they cannot rely on them. People are now resorting back to using their cars. To say that privatisation has been a fiasco is an understatement at this stage.

The Minister of State will be aware that Go-Ahead Ireland is receiving substantial State funding to provide this service, which is completely failing. I have consistently raised this issue with the Minister for Transport and I have repeatedly met with the National Transport Authority, NTA. The Minister has said that it is not his responsibility and that is up to the NTA. I have also met with Go-Ahead Ireland. The NTA and Go-Ahead Ireland are hiding behind a false narrative that it is down to staffing issues as a direct result of Covid. Before Covid the excuse was that there was a bedding-in period but over the past two years, right up to this moment in time, the excuse for staff being missing is down to Covid, or whatever. Clearly, there are staffing issues within Go-Ahead Ireland that is resulting in the poor service being provided. This is fundamentally down to the pay and conditions offered to drivers. Drivers are being trained and then quickly leaving Go-Ahead Ireland, which has resulted in a continuous recruitment campaign by Go-Ahead Ireland to recruit new drivers and train them in, only for them to subsequently move on.

It seems there is this perpetual failure to provide a public service for bus users and potential bus users, certainly in my constituency. It has now got to a point where it is unsustainable. People are now refusing to use public transport. People are being left, at very short notice, standing waiting on a bus that does not show. Last week, there were a couple of incidents where children and teenagers were left after the final two buses on the No. 185 route never showed up. Those young people had to walk from Bray and to Enniskerry, along the 21 Bends, which is a very dangerous stretch of road. The situation is now putting at risk the safety of members of the public. The situation is counterproductive to the stated policy of the Government to encourage more people to use public transport.

Will the Minister of State indicate what action is being taken to ensure that a better service is being provided? As far as I can see, the time for Go-Ahead Ireland is well past. We now need to take these routes back into public control to ensure a better and more reliable service is provided.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important topic. I will take this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I understand that the Deputy's matter relates to the provision of bus services on routes operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, and whether any measures can or have been taken to improve these services.

My Department has responsibility for policy and overall funding in respect of public transport. However, the Department is not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services nationally, including those public service obligation, PSO, routes currently operated by Go-Ahead Ireland. The NTA has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally by way of public transport services contracts, and for the allocation of associated funding to the relevant transport operators.

PSO services are socially necessary but financially unviable services and the PSO programme represents a significant expenditure of taxpayers' money. Funding support has increased in recent years. Currently, the vast majority of PSO bus services are provided by either Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann through what are known as direct award contracts. The remaining routes are operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, which entered the market in September 2018 as part of Government's commitment to open up the bus market through a programme of tendering known as "bus market opening". A key Government objective is to provide all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. Public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal.

To support this objective, in budget 2022, the Department secured €538 million of funding for PSO and Local Link services provided by State operators and under contract by the NTA this year. This includes more than €200 million of Covid-19 emergency funding in 2022 to counter the continuing impacts of the pandemic on fare revenue across transport operators.

In the context of the Deputy's specific question regarding the PSO services currently operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, as the Deputy will be aware and as he alluded to, the Covid-19 health emergency has had a profound impact on the public transport sector due to the fall in passenger numbers, and the associated drop in fare revenues. To date, passenger numbers remain below pre-Covid levels and demand is currently at 80% of that experienced in 2019. This is expected to improve further in the coming months..

It is important to note that the pandemic has also had a significant impact on the staff of the various public transport operators that continued to operate throughout the crisis, with absences fluctuating throughout the pandemic as each new wave of the virus spread across the population.Unfortunately, Go-Ahead Ireland, in addition to a number of other public transport providers, is experiencing higher than normal levels of Covid-related staff absences at present. As a result of these higher levels of staff absenteeism across the transport network, there has been a knock-on effect on service delivery, resulting in some services not operating as scheduled. The NTA has advised that all public transport operators experiencing this issue are endeavouring to ensure that the first and last scheduled services operate as planned, and that consecutive bus services are not curtailed or cancelled, whenever possible.

The NTA has further advised that all public transport operators have for some months been working hard to recruit additional staff and, as a result, staff levels are beginning to improve gradually. I will continue to engage with the authority to ensure that all operators in the bus market provide a satisfactory level of service to meet the demands of customers in line with their contracts. I will also raise this directly with the Minister.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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To say I am disappointed with the response is an understatement. I could have predicted the response before I came in here. It wastes my time and that of the Minister of State. That is the response I have heard consistently over the past two years, namely that the impact of Covid on Go-Ahead is resulting in the poor service that is being delivered. The poor service was there before Covid and it continues now. The same response does not wash because I do not see the same volume of cancellations from Dublin Bus, which provides an excellent service in Wicklow. There is not the same volume of cancellations. The Minister of State said the operators are being advised not to cancel first or last bus services but that is happening. It happened only last week in Wicklow on the 185 route. It is having a direct, negative impact on the people who rely on the public transport service in Wicklow.

The 45 route out of Wicklow is the only route out of the county that serves the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire. People are missing appointments because the bus is not showing up. One constituent told me last week that the 45 was cancelled at late notice and he had to use two other bus routes to get to the National Rehabilitation Centre. It is having a direct negative impact. It is no longer sustainable to hide behind Covid. The service has clearly failed.

I have two specific questions. How long is left on the contract? We need to seriously look at reversing the contract and giving it back to Dublin Bus, which can and will provide a far superior service. What measures have been taken by the NTA? What penalties have been imposed on Go-Ahead for its clear failure to meet its obligations under the contract to provide a fit-for-purpose service?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I reassure the Deputy that the NTA is engaging regularly with Go-Ahead Ireland and other public transport operators regarding any service provision issues on the PSO network and the authority provides regular updates to the Department on these issues. Go-Ahead Ireland is actively taking steps to reduce the impact of the increased level of staff absences on service provision through an extensive campaign to recruit new bus drivers. The NTA and Go-Ahead Ireland are currently reviewing the existing service timetables and schedules to determine whether a modified timetable could be implemented over summer months when passenger demand is reduced, thereby reducing service disruption. It is hoped that a combination of these measures will help to significantly reduce the service provision issues that have occurred recently. I will raise the issues and the questions that the Deputy put directly to me with the Minister for him to come back to the Deputy with a response.