Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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255. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the severe cuts by a company (details supplied) to its routes servicing large areas of south Dublin and north Wicklow; the way he plans to fill these gaps in service to ensure residents in these areas have reliable and sustainable access to Dublin Airport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7423/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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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 operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and is responsible for the licensing of public bus passenger services under the provisions of the Public Transport Regulation Act 2009.

While most public transport in Ireland comprises the bus and rail services funded through the NTA’s public service obligation (PSO) programme, there is part of the national public transport system that comprises non-subvented bus services, which are run on a commercial basis by bus and coach businesses of varying sizes throughout the country. As a commercial operator, any decisions taken by Aircoach regarding routes, scheduling and timetabling are a matter for the company, the NTA has no powers to refuse an application from an operator to reduce or withdraw services on a commercial route.

In light of the NTA’s responsibility as licencing authority, I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.