Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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149. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to address bus no-shows, delays, and punctuality in County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33554/25]

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 for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in conjunction with the relevant transport operators in this case Bus Éireann.

The performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators. These contractual arrangements allow for not just the monitoring of performance by the NTA and the publication by it of annual performance reports, but importantly, the contracts also allow for the imposition of financial penalties where performance does not meet the required standard.

The Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal.

To support this objective, under Budget 2025, €658.442 million of funding for PSO and TFI Local Link services (an increase from €613.813 million in 2024).

One of the key public transport priorities for this Government is the continued roll-out of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan. Since its launch in 2022, 150 new and enhanced bus services have been introduced, providing 240 new towns and villages with connections to the public transport network. 600,000 people now have access to the public transport network.

A number of routes have been implemented or enhanced in Meath West under Connecting Ireland including the new routes 186 from Baile Ghib to Cavan, and 177 from Kells to Ardee, the enhancements to routes 189 from Enfield to Navan and 187 from Kells to Ballyjamesduff, and route 109B which was extended from Trim to Athboy via Kildalkey.

I can assure you that my Department is committed to providing investment in our public transport network and that I am supportive of the Governments goals in delivering an accessible, affordable and reliable public transport network throughout the country.

In terms of frequency, we are supporting the rollout of increased service levels on existing services and ensuring enhanced frequency on new services as they are rolled out.

On reliability we are introducing improvements to the vehicle location system and the real-time passenger information, all of which will improve the reliability of the system.

The query raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for Bus Éireann in conjunction with the NTA. I have, therefore, referred the Deputy's question to them both for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.