2026-06-18

103. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Transport for an update on the new start date for the 199 Local Link bus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46559/26]

Can the Minister give me an update on the Local Link 199 service and when it is due to start? It was actually meant to start last September. A bus has been purchased for it. Drivers are in place. The community really needs this bus service up and running. There is very much a lack of clarity because the Government says one thing and the NTA says the other. Can we have a start date for this service this morning?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue again. I know there is a campaign on the ground supported by her. This is an important service that we want to get into use. I mentioned in my previous answer that this year has been a year to ensure that we got an increase in the PSO funding, which is very significant. There has been considerable investment in services throughout the country under the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan. I think everyone is agreed that has been a real success. I have met many of the Local Link services across the country. The plan is improving how rural communities access public transport. I am pleased to state that passengers are responding to this continued investment, with TFI Local Link services recording a combined 6.97 million passenger journeys just last year, marking a record and a 19% increase on the previous year. That is just short of 7 million journeys. In counties Wicklow, Carlow and Kilkenny, funding increased by 25% between 2024 and 2025 to over €4.6 million, boosting passenger numbers by 81%. A great example of this can be seen in route 183, which was enhanced from Arklow to Sallins. The enhanced route offers connectivity to Avoca, Rathdrum, Rathnew, Wicklow, Roundwood and Laragh and improved connections to regional public transport, including a morning connection to Arklow. The PSO allocation, as I mentioned earlier, has risen to €940 million. That is 43% up on 2025's allocation. I want that on a sustainable footing; I do not want to have to go back looking for supplementary funding every year. That is a record level of funding we have provided and that underpins the new routes we have brought forward. It is a priority to roll out the 199 service, which is part of the NTA's service plan. The service is subject to the same considerations around funding. To be straight, I expect that, as part of the Estimates process, with the additional funding we will receive, routes like the 199 service will operate from early next year.

I thank the Minister but that response just is not good enough. It just does not cut it. This service was to start last September. People have been relying on it. They have been making life decisions - dropping out of college, not able to get jobs in other parts - because they are relying on this service to go from, say, Roundwood to Bray. They were told it would happen in September. I am glad to hear the Minister say that it should happen from next January but what people need is an actual date. We have some members of the Government saying that an announcement was to be made last week and the NTA says there is no funding for this. There is a complete lack of clarity. This service needs to start at least in September because people in those areas cannot get to college or get to many of the schools they need to get to. To say now that there will be another six months' delay, following a year's delay, is just not good enough.

I have outlined that this is an important service for people. I have outlined what has been done in just the past two years in relation to Local Link services in Wicklow. I think everyone acknowledges that there has been a significant increase. This route, this service, is a priority. I want to see it in place as soon as we can. I am trying to give a realistic timeframe for its implementation because the Deputy is right that people need certainty around it. They do not need to be told it might be next week and next week and next week. What I and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, have been able to do is significantly increase the funding for these types of services to get this onto a sustainable footing, with a 42% increase and record public transport passenger numbers right the way across the country and continued growth. I want to grow that further. We are seeking additional funding for next year to roll out services like the 199. If I get additional funds this year - and it is an if - any of the services that we can roll out additionally we will do this year. I am trying to give the Deputy a realistic timeframe for her constituents. I am confident that we will be able to get this up and running early next year. We will be in our Estimates negotiations pretty soon. I want to get additional funding for that. We are looking at how that funding is made up between PSO and fares to be able to deliver new services like this, and the Deputy is right that people are responding to it.

I do acknowledge that the Minister is trying to give a realistic date. I think that has been part of the problem: that people have been waiting week by week for this service to be rolled out. The difficulty, however, is that I was told in May last year that this service was funded, that the money was there for it. It was tendered and it was contracted. There is a bus sitting in Clonshaugh in Dublin empty, not running, waiting to be used on this service. Four drivers have been hired for this service. Everything is ready to go, and I do not understand how that funding is no longer there. I know the Minister is saying that he is trying to stabilise funding this year and next year and that new services will come in but this service was promised. Because we are coming into the start of a new school year and a new college year, I ask that the Minister try to find that funding for just four months of the year to get this running. It is ready to go. Literally, the bus is sitting there. I ask the Minister to try to find that funding to bridge that gap.

I know people have been told this is funded. I know that the bus is purchased. People have been employed. If we can get it started earlier, we will do so. I will go back and specifically ask why that was advised previously. What the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I have tried to do - and I think we have done it pretty well - is to get that big uplift so we are starting from a higher base and then we can really be sustainable. As to what happened over the past five years, it was great to see the increases in services but there was no certainty around any of them-----

Correct.

-----because it was just a matter of going in every year for additional moneys towards the end of the year. I will specifically and personally check this one out and I will revert to the Deputy. I am trying to give a realistic timeline and, in fairness, she has accepted that. If it can be done sooner, we will do it sooner because I know the bus has been purchased. Let us see what we can do in that regard and I will come back to the Deputy directly.

Deputy O'Hara, are you taking Deputy Daly's questions?

Yes.