Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister of State to the House. She is here to take this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. This is about the need and urgency around bus services in rural areas and specifically my own home area of Roscommon and Galway and Ballinasloe town.At the public consultation phase of the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan, I co-ordinated a video campaign to highlight proposed and urgently needed routes. This was in December 2021, at which time we were encouraging submissions. We have seen some of those new services, which I acknowledge. There is a Castlerea service to Ballinasloe that goes through Glenamaddy, Mountbellew, Caltra and Ahascragh. It is a fantastic service, because there were no buses going through some of those towns. In fact, there was no way for some of those people to go to day services in the social services. It is fantastic to see that up and running now. It was only launched in the past month or so. We are looking at three services per day, which again is fantastic. They are linking up places like Ballinasloe and Castlerea, which are already linked by geography by the River Suck. Again, it is bringing students to the university campus town in Mountbellew and linking people to different towns in our area.

We also have the Local Link from Ballinasloe to Portumna, which is going through Lawrencetown and Eyrecourt. The frequency of service is about three times per day. There is a bus running from Loughrea to Ballinasloe. This replaces the X20 route. There used to be the 20 bus. For a student going from Dublin to Galway, there was the Bus Éireann 20 route and the X20, which was the express service. It would take all of the stops to Athlone and then go directly from Athlone to Dublin. That route was taken off one or two years ago and it has caused a lot of challenges for people who use the bus pass to travel and for students travelling. A Local Link was put in place from Loughrea to Ballinasloe covering some of those areas like Kilreekil, Cappataggle and Kilconnell. We also have some commercial services and providers covering those routes.

However, there are crucial needs here because there is currently no link between and Athlone and Ballinasloe on the old Dublin to Galway road. That would go through the communities of Summerhill, Drum, Moor, outside of Creagh and into Ballinasloe. There is no public service on that route, which used to be a major route in Ireland on the old Dublin to Galway road. It is one of the proposals under the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan and I want to ask about that particular route because in Ballinasloe we have Portiuncula University Hospital. It is the hospital for more than 20,000 people in Athlone and covers and takes in a catchment area of almost 500,000. It is the hospital for that city. For people attending maternity appointments in particular, there is no way for them to get directly to the hospital. The train station is roughly 15 minutes from the hospital itself, which is almost a one mile walk. If someone is in need and not able to walk, the bus service would be fantastic as it would stop right outside the hospital. I am asking that we have that service going forward. I am hoping it is a service being proposed and is one that would connect. We had the Minister, Deputy Ryan, down to launch the first electric bus in Athlone only a week or two ago.

The other services I want to inquire about are the A78 from Athlone to Roscommon. Athlone to Ballinasloe is one route, then Athlone to Roscommon goes through Ballyforan, Ballygar and Athleague. This is one of the proposals. It would bring connectivity to some of those towns and connect people from Athlone to Roscommon. Route 440 from Athlone to Westport is also proposed, bringing in Roscommon and Mayo.

My other points are on communication in local communities. What is the National Transport Authority, NTA, doing on communication with regional newspapers, local radio stations and community publications? I do not know if all of the information is on bus stops. However, that is something we need to see.