Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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This is similar to the previous topic. It is strange the two were not grouped. The matter concerns Go-Ahead bus services in my area, the 17 and 18 routes, and in other areas across the city. A mistake was made when these services were privatised in the first place, but we are not going into that today. If a schoolchild of 12 or 13 years of age is standing at 7 a.m. in the lashing rain, trying to go to secondary school in Rialto, and the bus does not turn up until an hour later, that is madness. The same happens week in, week out. There is nothing new in this. Despite contacting Go-Ahead previously and despite the services pre-Covid being this bad, it has continued. These are radial services and any other journey would double the time. What is happening now is that most people are abandoning these services, which means they are unviable, and they have to rely on other services.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The level of service that is provided by Go-Ahead for the people I represent in north County Dublin is nothing short of disgraceful. Buses are being cancelled at the very last minute and no explanation is being sent to passengers. This means people are missing appointments and they are late for work and late for school. It is happening constantly. We have contacted Go-Ahead I do not know how many times and the answers we get are of absolutely no comfort at all. I very much welcome what the Minister of State is saying in regard to recruitment but the company seems to be recruiting some of the most delicate drivers I have ever heard of. The level of sick leave and Covid seems to be disproportionately impacting the workers in Go-Ahead, and the Minister of State might want to look at that. The simple fact is that Go-Ahead is not delivering on its contractual obligations. That is the bottom line: it is being paid to deliver a service and it is not delivering that service. The question for the Minister, were he to be in the House, is what he is prepared to do about it. We do not need a description of the problem because we know what the problem is. We want to hear from the Minister or the Minister of State what it is that they are going to do to resolve this.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I also want to talk about the Go-Ahead bus service, in my case the 120 service in north Kildare. It is the bane of workers’ lives in north Kildare. Workers are out in the cold at the crack of dawn, waiting for a bus that does not turn up, that just disappears, that is late or that is too full and will not let them on. I know of several workers in north Kildare who are on late warnings from their employer and one on a final late warning because of the 120 bus and the absolutely appalling Go-Ahead service. In particular, when we have a Green Party Minister as the head of the Department of Transport, and with climate collapse at our doorstep, it is unbelievable to think that we are depending on the private sector to provide a public service. I will leave it at that because I only have a few minutes and that is because four of us from the Sinn Féin Party are here to bring up the Go-Ahead service. It is a disgrace.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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The poor standard of service provided by Go-Ahead is a huge issue and we can see that across the board. My colleagues here this morning have given their own accounts but, in truth, as my party's transport spokesperson, wherever Go-Ahead operates, I have heard of problems from Sinn Féin Deputies, Senators, councillors and local area representatives. It could be that the 184, 185, 45A, 238, L52, 115, 120, 33A or 33B - the list goes on. Anywhere it operates, there are these challenges. We know there are challenges but it is weasel words from the NTA that there are problems in the sector because there is a particular and pronounced problem with Go-Ahead. In my own area, the 270 is a connecting route from Dunboyne that people use as part of their journey to school, work and hospital appointments, and it lets them down time and again without warning. Go-Ahead must be held to account.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for the opportunity to discuss further this issue.

I understand that, similar to the issue raised by Deputies McAuliffe and Devlin, this matter relates to ongoing service delivery issues with bus services provided by Go-Ahead Ireland and the urgent need to address these. The Department has responsibility for policy and overall funding in respect of public transport and is not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services nationally, including those PSO routes in Dublin currently operated by Go-Ahead Ireland and other operators. It is the NTA that 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.

The majority of PSO bus services are provided by Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann through what are known as direct award contracts, with the remaining routes being operated by Go-Ahead Ireland. 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. The recently agreed budget 2023 helps to support this objective and is a further positive development for public transport passengers across the country. We have extended the 20% fare reduction on PSO services so that everyone will benefit until the end of 2023, we have extended the 50% reduction available to young adults on PSO and commercial bus services until the end of 2023, and we are supporting new and enhanced bus and rail services throughout 2023. These are all part of the €563 million funding package to support PSO services. This package is significant in the context of providing accessible and affordable transport options.

Regarding the specific question on ongoing service delivery issues with bus services provided by Go-Ahead Ireland and the urgent need to address these issues, the NTA has advised that it is closely monitoring the performance of all public transport operators as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators. The service reliability issues being experienced by Go-Ahead are not unique to that operator, with many operators in the public transport sector facing similar staffing challenges as a result of Covid-19 absences and the recruitment of new drivers. However, while these staffing issues are being experienced across the public transport system, it is also true that Go-Ahead is particularly impacted by them and is experiencing higher-than-normal levels of Covid-19-related staff absences. These absences are having a knock-on negative impact on the delivery of services, with a number of services not operating as scheduled.

The NTA is engaging extensively with Go-Ahead on this issue. Go-Ahead has told the NTA that it will have the full complement of drivers in place by December.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Maybe the Department should be involved in the day-to-day operation of Go-Ahead, given that neither Go-Ahead nor the NTA can deliver the service that it has promised. This does not have to do with Covid or staffing issues. These problems have existed from the start, particularly on the 17 and 18 routes in my area. They have always been known as a joke, but parents have to rely on them if they are going to work in one direction and their kids are going to school in another. In the case of a woman who wrote to me last week, her kids were going to a bus stop at 7 a.m. to try to get to Coláiste Eoin and Coláiste Íosagáin, which are her closest schools and supposed to be on a direct route, but they cannot get there. Other people cannot get to their hospital appointments or doctor appointments and others are being challenged at work because they cannot get to work.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The 33A, 33B and 102 routes are vital links in my constituency, linking Malahide to the airport, Malahide to Swords and Skerries to Swords. People rely on these services but they have been left at the side of the road. They have a choice at that point - to miss their hospital appointments or be late for work or to get into their cars and drive. If something is not done about this, we will be forcing people into a situation where they will either be constantly late for work - the Minister of State knows what the consequences of this are - hospital appointments or school or they will be forced into their cars. That is not acceptable.

I am disappointed. When I asked the Minister of State what she proposed to do about this, she gave us a long-winded description of the problem. We know what the problem is. We want to know what she is prepared to do about it.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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It was an unsatisfactory reply. I cannot go to constituents in Prosperous, Clane, Straffan and Celbridge with it. There is no way that the Go-Ahead contract should be renewed. The Minister of State mentioned in an earlier reply that Go-Ahead would have the full complement of drivers by the end of December, but the time to have the full complement was before it applied for the contract so that it knew it could fulfil that contract. This shows that we cannot depend on the private sector to deliver public transport.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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Where is the Minister? This question has been asked repeatedly. Taxi drivers, hauliers and the aviation sector have given up on him as Minister for Transport. We had a two-hour debate last week and he was not present for a single minute of it. This debate on public transport has been held repeatedly in the Chamber, but the Minister has been present for none of it.

December is no time to have this issue addressed. It needs to be addressed now. Contracts are up for extension at this time, but they should not be extended.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State give a commitment that the contracts will not be extended if the necessary staffing complement is not in place? That commitment needs to be given.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will raise the issue with the Minister again. I assure Deputies that the NTA is engaging regularly with Go-Ahead Ireland on the service provision issues currently being experienced on the PSO network. The NTA is also providing regular updates to the Department of Transport on these issues.

Regarding poor reliability and punctuality performance issues, they can and have resulted in financial penalties for operators. As part of the performance monitoring process, penalties were applied to Go-Ahead Ireland for quarter 4 of 2021 and quarter 1 of 2022 at €266,968 and €209,188, respectively.

Regarding the specific issues being experienced with service reliability, I assure all Deputies that the NTA has raised these matters with Go-Ahead Ireland and will continue to monitor and engage closely with the operator in an effort to improve the situation. I have no doubt that the Minister will keep Deputies up to date on the driver complement up to December.