Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

That is a hard act to follow.

We know public transport outside our major urban centres is, to one degree or another, poor or practically non-existent. I want to raise serious concerns about the issue of rural transport, particularly in Carlow and Kilkenny, where families are being let down time and again by a system that is underfunded, pretty complicated and failing in many cases to realise its basic purpose. In April this year, a private provider, JJ Kavanagh and Sons, removed stops at Castlecomer, Crettyard and Athy from the 717 route, which is the Clonmel–Dublin Airport route. This decision was made with no public consultation and has left several communities completely cut off from having a bus route through their towns. I have written to the NTA about this and have heard absolutely nothing in response. The State’s overreliance on private operators for what is supposed to be a public service is now generating challenges and costs for individuals who rely on so-called public service transport routes. A private provider can decide at any moment, unilaterally, to pull a route. The results for communities are isolation for older people, disruption for workers and considerable additional car dependency, which is not in line with our climate targets. We face €26 billion in fines. The Environmental Protection Agency said recently that we may reach only 23% of our emissions target, not the 51% reduction required. Instead of accepting that fines might come, maybe we should be investing some of the equivalent moneys in advance to lower our emissions.

The NTA points to Local Link, which is a really good resource, is welcome and has resulted in much access for rural communities; however, it is not necessarily sufficiently resourced to fill the widening gap left when a private provider pulls from a public route because it deems it not to be profitable. Without a properly funded national transport strategy, Local Link cannot provide a genuine alternative.

While it does not necessarily concern the Minister’s Department, there is an ongoing issue with school transport and children not getting places. Even though they are guaranteed or entitled to spaces, they are just not available. This is an ongoing issue for rural communities.

I would like to touch briefly on the issue of the train. I live on the Waterford–Dublin line. It is a really busy line and is at capacity daily in the morning and evening, with passengers standing. I do not believe it was subject to review in 2024, despite its being an incredibly busy link. We have an issue in Kilkenny at MacDonagh Junction, where the platform is too short. This is what I believe is curtailing the provision of additional carriages on the entire route. An extension is desperately needed to increase capacity on the route.

When we talk about transport, we should ask about its purpose. It is so we can go places without being in our cars. Senator Collins talked about vision and having a vision. The starting point entails asking how we use public transport. I am a train user. On a Tuesday morning, I drive to my local train station, at Bagenalstown, Muine Bheag, park my car, get the train to Houston and then get the bus here. I go back again on a Thursday. That would be a whole lot easier if the train left after 8 p.m. I realise new services have been provided but it would be lovely to be able to see my family for dinner in Dublin and then get home by train instead of having to drive home on such an occasion. This would reduce the awful congestion we see on the M50 and N7. I would love to be able to go directly to Galway or indeed Tullamore by train from where I live, but instead I must get the train to Dublin and then go from Dublin elsewhere. It would be amazing in Ireland to have the option of travelling around the country meaningfully by public transport, or of going on holiday by public transport, but that is just not what we have. I am aware it is not an easy fix but when we talk about vision and what we would love to see in the next 15 or 20 years, we should talk about rail and bus routes that actually help us, make our lives better and allow us to live in a way that is more climate friendly, sustainable and better for everyone. I actually do not believe anyone wants to be sitting on the N7 in bumper-to-bumper traffic for two and a half hours.

Public transport should be the future and should be the now. We can look back on the decisions in the past when Ireland thought it was modernising by ripping out all its rail routes. We can all agree that this was not modernisation. We need to think about long-term vision when it comes to public transport. I urge the Minister to be brave and bold in long-term planning, particularly insofar as it relates to rail routes. This country would be such an amazing place if we had reliable, predictable and sustainable transport options.