Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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337. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on the reliability performance of Dublin Bus routes (details supplied); if the National Transport Authority has identified measures to reduce instances of service cancellations or ‘ghost buses’; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61797/25]

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, Dublin Bus.

The performance of all public transport operators is monitored by NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators and performance reports are available to view on the NTA’s website. The NTA uses all the contractual and regulatory powers available to it to measure, report on and seek to maintain and improve standards across all public service obligation public transport services. Further, in instances where performance drops, financial penalties are rigorously applied unless the cause of the loss of performance is outside of the control of the operator.

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