James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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38. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to allocate a budget for the provision of park and ride facilities in a number of towns (details supplied) in County Kildare in which the requirement for park and ride is crucial in order to increase usage of public transport services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30199/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport.  The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area, including the provision of Park and Ride facilities in County Kildare.

The National Transport Authority's (NTA) Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) 2016-2035 includes the planned development of a network of strategic rail-based park and ride facilities where rail services intersect with the national road network. It is proposed that these facilities would be located at Swords, Finglas, Dunboyne, Liffey Valley, Naas Road, Carrickmines, Woodbrook and Greystones.  The Strategy indicates that further development of local park and ride facilities will also be considered at appropriate locations on the rail network in the outer parts of the Dublin metropolitan network and hinterland.

In addition, the NTA recently launched the BusConnectsinitiative which proposes a radical transformation of the bus system in Dublin that will involve, inter alia, the development of a network of 'next generation' bus corridors and a complete redesign of the network to be accompanied by a network of bus-based park and ride sites at strategic locations.

As the Deputy will be aware, a mid-term review of the Capital Plan is currently underway and in my Department's submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform I have sought a significant increase in funding for public transport investment to support these initiatives.  The extent to which the park and ride network - both the rail-based and bus-based network - can be rolled out will be dependent on the level of additional funding that may become available for public transport following the completion of the mid-term review of the Capital Plan.