Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is the last Order of Business for this Seanad and, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I thank Martin, Bridget and all of the staff in the Seanad Office, the Head Usher and all of the ushers in both Houses for their courtesy, support, co-operation and dedication. It has been a huge privilege for me personally to serve in this Seanad and it has been a privilege for my colleagues. We greatly appreciate the support all of the staff have given all of us, individually and collectively, to complete our work. We are indebted.

Second, I raise an issue I have raised in this House before, which is the withdrawal of the 11 bus service from Drumcondra. This proposal has been aired for many years. I have engaged in the public consultation going back to 2017 and 2018 along with residents associations, including the Griffith Avenue and District Residents' Association, the Drumcondra Triangle Residents' Association and the Iona and District Residents' Association. Many residents associations have engaged voluntarily in 2018, 2019 and 2020 right through until today. Yesterday, the NTA got on a call with more than 20 elected representatives. We spent more than an hour and a half on the call with the NTA imploring it to engage with the residents, that is, just to meet with the residents and with the travelling public. The NTA is refusing to even get on a Zoom or Teams call with residents, citizens, taxpayers and the travelling public to discuss its proposal to withdraw the 11 bus. This is a vital public transport service in my community but it is not just my community that is affected by it. It is currently a cross-city service. The NTA, in its infinite wisdom, is going to withdraw it on 8 December and it is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to the people of Drumcondra, Glasnevin, Finglas and Ballymun. The Minister for Transport must intervene and stop the withdrawal of the 11 bus on 8 December. He can proceed with the E spines; they will be welcome. We would welcome him proceeding with the A spine and even accelerating it, but to withdraw the 11 bus service is unacceptable and it must be paused.

I welcome the day of action taking place today with An Garda Síochána on our public transportation. The Deputy Leader and the rest of the House will know that my colleagues and I have been raising the issue of public safety on public transportation, in our public spaces and on our streets. Everyone in the city wants to feel safer. It is welcome that gardaí are doing a day of action today on our DART, Luas and bus services, but one day of action is not good enough. It is not sufficient. We want our dedicated Garda public transport unit. The public is demanding it. The workers on public transportation, the NBRU and SIPTU are demanding it. It must be delivered.