James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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130. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current status on the BusConnects project in Cork County; the status of the CMATS project in Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51607/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS) 2040 was developed by the National Transport Authority (NTA) in collaboration with Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

Since its publication in 2020, there has been good progress on key elements of CMATS, including the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme, BusConnects Cork, Cork Light Rail and the Active Travel Programme.

It is currently anticipated that the NTA will commence the review of CMATS in 2026 with the aim to complete the review in 2027.

In relation to BusConnect, the Deputy will be aware that, following an extensive public consultation, the new BusConnects Cork network was published in June 2022, and it aims to provide an increase of over 50% in bus services across the city. Planning for the implementation of the new bus network has commenced and it is expected that the new network will be implemented on a phased basis in the coming years.

A key component of the BusConnects Cork programme is the implementation of bus priority measures, generally bus lanes, on key bus corridors serving the city. A third round of non-statutory public consultation on the 11 Sustainable Transport Corridors ran from November to December 2023.

I am pleased to say that I will shortly seek Government's approval of the Preliminary Business Case for BusConnects Cork which, once approved, will represent a significant milestone in the programme's overall delivery and allow the infrastructure elements of the programme enter the statutory planning process.