John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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31. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport whether it is the intention of his Department to review the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34776/25]

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I think the Deputy will agree with me when I say that the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan has been a huge success, with over 150 new or enhanced services introduced since 2022. This means that over 240 towns and villages have been connected to the public transport network, and approximately 600,000 people have access to new and enhanced bus services.

61 new connections have been provided to healthcare facilities, 41 new connections to higher education facilities and 71 of the new and enhanced services provide connections with existing rail services. A total of 5.8 million passenger journeys were carried on Connecting Ireland services in 2024.

There has been considerable investment in services throughout the country under Connecting Ireland, including in County Galway, with the commencement of the new Route 439 between Galway and Loughrea, and the enhanced Route 934 from Gort to Loughrea, which now operates three daily return services Monday to Friday serving Peterswell, Castleday and Kilchreest.

2025 is the fourth year of the five-year Connecting Ireland plan and more new and enhanced bus services are planned throughout rural Ireland for 2025. However, I must add that all future funding for public transport expansion will be considered through the Annual Estimates process.

The NTA also publish implementation reviews of each phase of Connecting Ireland. The reviews of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Connecting Ireland are available on the NTA website, and the review of Phase 3 will be published shortly. The NTA also publish quarterly bulletins with the bulletin for Q4 of 2024 now available on the NTA website.

This Government's dedication to enhancing public transport is evident in the major investment made across services and infrastructure in recent years. I strongly believe that expanding the network and increasing service levels nationwide will improve regional balance and strengthen connectivity for all users.