Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this matter and the Minister of State for coming in to deal with it. Under Connecting Ireland, two bus services were set up in Connemara. One goes from An Cheathrú Rua up through Screebe, Maam Cross, Cornamona, Clonbur, Ballinrobe to Claremorris. The other goes from An Cheathrú Rua to Screebe, but it then turns west and goes to Carna, An Caiseal, Roundstone, Ballyconeely and Clifden. These services have been welcomed, and each serves the communities in the areas mentioned. I am not saying that there are not huge numbers travelling from An Cheathrú Rua, for example, to Claremorris, but there are many people who travel by bus to Claremorris or Ballinrobe on the northern leg. Similarly, on the southern leg, they travel through Maam Cross to connect with other bus services.

There is a major snag with the two services, which is that, unlike Bus Éireann services whereby people can be picked up anywhere along the route, somebody in their wisdom decided that there would be fixed bus stops on these rural roads and that passengers would only be able to board or alight from buses at these locations.

Some of these are, believe it or not, 8 km or 14 km apart, so you would need a car to get to the bus. It is quite a farcical situation. As many people have said to me, if they take the car that far, they might as well go the whole way. Where are they meant to leave the car? The problem now is that the type of numbers we would have expected to use the bus and who are potentially there to use the bus are not using the bus.

I have been pursuing this issue for months and there was a promise that the number of bus stops would be reviewed. That would be a help but it would not be equal to the service as we have traditionally had it in rural Ireland, that if you are along the route, the bus would pick you up wherever you were. I was in the town the other day, on St. Patrick's Day to be exact. I was in a little housing estate and along a stretch of road, somewhere between a quarter and a half a mile, there were two bus stops. Then people think rural people can go 8 km to a bus stop. It kind of does your head in because what is reasonable in one place is reasonable in another.

There is another issue that has arisen. For example, Ros Muc used to have a main bus service. The bus going from Carna to Galway in the morning used to go into Ros Muc on the peninsula to pick up passengers, come back out to Gort Mór and go into Galway city, and the same thing in the evening. Now, it does not go in there and I can understand the reason for that because the people who are on the bus from Carna obviously do not want a big diversion. On the other hand, for the people of Ros Muc, this has been a matter of contention since the service started. The number of people using buses is increasing all the time and there should be a feeder bus into Ros Muc that would meet the main buses. It could be a minibus or whatever. It would be well patronised. One thing we know is, if there are good bus services, people will use them. If there are excellent bus services, they will use them even more. We did get an improvement in the radial buses into Galway city. They used to be badly patronised. Now there is only one complaint every day and that is that you cannot get on the buses because they are all full. Even the 11 p.m. bus out of Galway city is full.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We need a service that services the people. It is a kind of Irish joke that you would have a bus service that is happier with no passengers than with passengers and is still running at a cost to the State.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, going to sort out this problem for us in Connemara?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this important topic which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan. At the outset, I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding regarding public transport but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day management, operation or planning of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority, NTA. The NTA works with the public transport operators who 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, realistic and sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, under budget 2024, a funding package of about €613 million has been secured for public service obligation and Local Link services. This package includes funding for the continuation of the 20% fare reduction on PSO services, the extension of the young adult card on both PSO and commercial bus services to include 24- and 25-year-olds, and the continuation of the 90-minute fare limit until the end of 2024. Funding has also been secured to support the continued roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services this year.

Turning to rural and regional areas, as I am sure the Deputy is aware, the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan has been a hugely successful programme since its implementation began in 2022, with, for example, passenger numbers on Transport for Ireland Local Link regular bus services increasing by 78% year on year to 3.2 million in 2023. Under Connecting Ireland, more than 100 new or additional services have been introduced since commencement in mid-2022. Under phase 1 in 2022, 38 new and enhanced services were implemented, while in phase 2 in 2023, 65 new and enhanced services were implemented. This means that in excess of 190 towns and villages have been connected to the public transport network and more than 280,000 people have access to new and enhanced bus services.

Regarding the specific services referred to by Deputy Ó Cuív, the NTA has advised that Galway Local Link is currently trialling additional stops on the Local Link 432 alignment. The NTA has agreed with Galway Local Link to operate smaller buses on this route to allow for a more flexible operation of the services and will discuss additional stops on the 431 bus service with Galway Local Link. The NTA also advised that it has no current plans to provide for regular services to operate to and from the Ros Muc peninsula.

In designing the 431 service, the NTA confirmed it has considered options for extending this route to Knock Airport. According to the NTA, extending the service to Knock Airport would have diminished the service frequency along the corridor as the additional journey time would have to be compensated with a loss of service elsewhere. This would have diminished the attractiveness of the service for most residents. The NTA does not have a current plan to extend the service to Knock Airport. However, it confirmed it will keep this under review in the future as the service develops. There are a number of bus services that operate regularly between Claremorris and Knock Airport, including the Bus Éireann 440, 64 and 964 services. It is possible to interchange between the Local Link 431 service and these services in Claremorris. The NTA’s journey planner can be used to see other public transport options.

I reassure the Deputy that the Department of Transport, the NTA and the operators are working to ensure the optimised deployment of resources across the public transport network to match changing passenger demand patterns.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for anticipating the second part of my question regarding Knock Airport. The proposal is quite simple. Let us start on a phased basis, say, for the months of June, July and August, that the bus would run down as far as Knock Airport. Telling me there is connecting buses is like telling me I can get a flight to a holiday destination and that I can get a cheaper flight if I fly to London, then on to somewhere else and keep changing flights until I get there rather than taking direct flights. People want direct services, particularly if they are going on holidays and they have baggage. I do not understand why it cannot be rostered in such a way. If it takes more buses and more frequencies, so be it. We are entitled to services. I believe an awful lot of people would leave their cars at home and take the bus to the airport. Some 800,000 people are using Knock Airport every year and that would reduce the carbon footprint along that route quite considerably.

To go back to the 432 service, will the Minister of State ask the Minister for Transport to ask the NTA to ask Local Link to send me details of the additional stops and how far apart these are going to be compared with, for example, urban bus stops? I have been trying to get this information for a considerable time. Will they also give me details as to what they mean by saying they are going to operate smaller buses on this route to allow for a more flexible operation of services? Will they explain how this is going to give us more flexible services, what they mean by more flexible services, and what the changes are? Will the Minister of State note my disappointment on the fact Ros Muc does not now have the service it had 20 years ago? That is all we are looking to be restored.

Finally, with the great indulgence of the Ceann Comhairle, I mention to the Minister of State this policy issue of the Department of Transport responding to every question asked about rail, etc., by saying it is an operational matter for the various agencies involved. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister for Transport to answer one question? Surely it would be a policy issue, if the Minister made it a policy, that when the NTA is deciding on these services it would provide places and specify the maximum distance between bus stops in any part of the country. One can make any policy you want when you are a Minister. That is what being a Minister is about. I do not accept this perennial answer that the Minister has no policy on anything and that these agencies are running wild and are not providing a service. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his indulgence.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I also ask the Minister of State to ask the Minister to give more succinct responses that contain more relevant information rather than three quarters filler and one quarter relevant information. That is not the Minister of State's fault. I am not blaming him.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is not a problem.

I will convey the Deputy's request for the details on the smaller buses and the additional stops to the Minister. I will absolutely convey the Deputy's disappointment with regard to Ros Muc. I will also make the Minister for Transport aware of the Deputy's desire that he develop a policy on the distances between bus stops. Other than that, I do not have anything else to offer by way of supplementary or closing information because the Deputy probably would not be impressed if I read out what I have here before me.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I would probably agree with that. It can save on the hot air in here.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I can tell the Deputy that the topic of bus stops is emotive. My own father lobbied me for a bus stop near our house for many years - approximately 15 years - and one arrived there last year but I had nothing to do with it landing there. I will convey all of that.