Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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20. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of towns with a population of over 1,000 persons that do not have a daily commuting bus service. [46286/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, I am not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services.

It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) that has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public transport services nationally by way of public transport services contracts, and for the allocation of associated funding to the relevant transport operators.

Public Service Obligation (PSO) services are socially necessary but financially unviable services which are subsidised by the taxpayer and the PSO programme represents a significant expenditure of taxpayers' money.

In 2022, I secured €538m to support PSO services, including €205m to address COVID expenses, and a further €14.246m to support Local Link regular service provision in rural Ireland.

It is well-recognised that good public transport is a key enabler of both social inclusion and economic progress and the Government is committed to improving our public transport system and services. In that regard the NTA has conducted extensive analysis of the transport needs of towns, villages and rural areas as part of the Connecting Ireland programme.

With regard to the Deputy's specific question regarding the number of towns with a population of over 1,000 persons that do not have a daily commuting bus service, the NTA have advised that using the latest available Census data from 2016, 269 towns and settlements were identified as having a population of over 1,000 people, this excludes the 5 Cities and their metropolitan areas, and of these 269 settlements, approximately 74 do not currently have a direct daily commuter service.

For the purpose of their analysis, the NTA defined a commuter service as a PSO or Commercially operated fixed route, limited stop or express service connecting a settlement with its closest city or regional centre, providing a two-way service to meet the traditional working / college hours of 9am to 5pm.

I am advised that of the settlements identified as having no commuter service, the majority had a population of under 2,000 in 2016. It should also be noted that in a number of cases whilst direct commuter services may not exist, many of these towns have alternative options available. For example, whilst no direct commuter service exists between Abbeyleix and Dublin, it is possible to take the 828 local link service from Abbeyleix to Portlaoise to connect with rail services to Dublin, allowing for arrival in Dublin just before 9am.

This Government is firmly committed to enhancing and expanding our public transport services provision across the country and the funding for Public Service Obligation services has increased in recent years to cater for network enhancements and growing capacity.

One of the key plans for enhancing the existing transport network across Ireland falls under the previously discussed Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility plan,which aims to develop an integrated, accessible, and sustainable network of public transport offerings across Ireland.