Results 7,021-7,040 of 8,833 for speaker:Verona Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: I can answer it. There are none, absolutely none.

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: The NTA might not be ignoring it. I only have two minutes, with respect. The NTA might not be ignoring it but nobody is doing much about it-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: It is very slow. It is very slow and the cost-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: The NTA has a budget of €1.2 billion and as I said, the minutiae-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: I appreciate that and I agree with Ms Graham-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: The ambition needs to translate into delivery-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: Actually, it is not.

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: The plan is not viable currently. Mr. Gaston has said that the NTA will make recompense but fuel costs have been rising for 12 months-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: Does Ms Graham know how long it takes a transport contractor facing a 30% increase in costs to go out of business? Not very long.

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: It is not in our in interest at all and it is not in the public interest.

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: Well, the NTA is not working fast enough. I am telling Ms Graham straight-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: Well, I do. I have sat down with the co-ordinators providing the service. They are doing their damnedest, with local knowledge, but it is not being accepted. I have asked them what they have offered and what is on the table. There is no correlation between what is being offered by them and what is on the table. I ask the NTA to look at it again and to provide the service that is required...

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: We need to see progress. That is all I ask.

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: The Local Link contracts are up for renewal in 2023. I believe they can be extended for one year. Does Ms Graham know what the NTA will do or when does she anticipate that it will let the current Local Link providers know?

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: Like anything, time is of the essence. They will probably need to know that too. Returning to my earlier remarks, it was my own assertion from the information that I was given from the co-ordinators and when I looked at Connecting Ireland, that it did not seem that anything had been taken from the co-ordinators' views and inserted into the Connecting Ireland plan. That is what I meant...

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: How does the NTA come up with those plans?

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: When I made a previous query on that in a parliamentary question, the answer I received was that it was compiled from Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures.

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: I do not mean to cut across Ms Graham but we have limited time. In what came down as routes and what was proposed there were no changes. That would indicate that the NTA is not taking it on board. I would ask the NTA to look at it, reflect and come back to me. I am asking Ms Graham to take this on board. I appreciate she is saying that the NTA does but I cannot see it because it is not...

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: On delivery, I come back to bus stops. There is an issue. Rather than holding up the meeting, will Ms Graham write to me about the process? There is good engagement with Wexford County Council with my office, at least. The person in charge there has rolled out a number of bus stops but not at the behest of the NTA. They have been co-ordinated through the Local Link services. I know they...

Public Accounts Committee: National Transport Authority: Financial Statements 2020 (27 Jan 2022)

Verona Murphy: Yes but with difficult, time-delayed interactions.