2026-01-22

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an t-ábhar seo an-tábhachtach di agus dá constituents ar fad ar an taobh eile den chathair. Today I want to speak about issues relating to the National Transport Authority, NTA, and the proposed changes to a bus route but in particular the lack of consultation with my constituents. Will the Minister of State provide a current update on what the NTA proposes? The proposed merger of the 80 and 130 routes would be catastrophic because, according to the NTA, the reason for ghost buses relates to to cross-city travel and longer routes. Instead, could we be reassured that the current routes would be served more regularly, especially at peak times? I get the bus into town in the morning and I see two or three buses going by while I am at the bus stop. That is not down to the drivers - the drivers on Dublin Bus are really hard-working men and women - but is due to resources and the current number of buses at various times. The lived experience of my constituents is very fragile. I spoke earlier this week to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste about children, elderly people and those with a disability who have the current bus system as part of their routine. They do not like changes to their routine. They were not sufficiently consulted. The former 123 bus now stops on the other side of the river, not near O'Connell Street. It is a change to people's routine. While this might not make a difference to everyone, it does to them. I heard Members of the House speak about an NTA-run taxi app. One of my constituents, P.J. Ryan, has pushed me to raise this. It is a very important issue. It is something else that could be examined. Is there any update on the 130 bus? Will the Minister of State's office please consult the NTA to reassure my constituents that if there are changes, they will be consulted and that there will be more frequent buses? This merger must be stopped. I cannot understand how we have allowed no public consultation to occur and how people are just being told their bus route is going to change. It makes no sense. The data behind the decision in regard to current reliability, cancellations, and time performance of the current bus routes must be published so that the public can see the rationale behind this. Ghost buses must be tackled urgently in respect of the failure with real-time information. We all receive hundreds of emails weekly from the public. It is a bus system and the issue should be very simple to solve. Public transport must be reliable in order to reduce traffic congestion. We spoke this week about remote working and reducing traffic congestion. Another key issue in tackling traffic congestion is reliable bus services. I also want to flag other issues on the north side on which people were not consulted. The first is the changes to the DART station at Donaghmede. Iarnród Éireann insisted that a leaflet drop occurred. I emailed Iarnród Éireann about that again asking for the date and time of the leaflet drop in estates but I got no reply. I raised it directly with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and he has now emailed Iarnród Éireann. I know that does not relate to the 130 bus but it is part of the broader theme about the public needing to be consulted. The public know where the faults lie in the public transport system. Will the Minister of State give me an update on the 130 bus and on any data from the NTA? Given that the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, has responsibility for special education, I would love to raise with him Stapolin Educate Together National School. All the Deputies have raised it. It is very important.

This is the Topical Issue debate.

I do not get to see the Minister of State every time.

On my way down we were discussing the odds that Deputy Heneghan would raise the issue. I assure him that a lot of work is going on in this regard right across the education system. I will address the matter in response to the matter raised by Deputy Whitmore. I thank Deputy Heneghan for raising this important topic, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. While the Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding for public transport, neither he nor his officials have any involvement in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority. The NTA works with the public transport operators, who deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That being said, I assure the Deputy that 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, in budget 2026, the Department of Transport secured €940 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and TFI Local Link services – a significant 43% uplift, and an increase from €658.4 million in 2025. BusConnects is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State and is managed by the NTA. The aim of the network is to improve the existing Transport for Ireland system through enhanced services with high-frequency spines and new local, orbital and radial routes. In regard to the NTA's proposed merger of the Dublin Bus 130 route with the 80 route, the NTA acknowledges that, for a variety of reasons, including city centre congestion, routes such as the 80, which replaced the 26 route, did not meet the expectations of customers following the introduction of the F-spine under phase 7. When rolling out phases of the BusConnects network, the NTA commits to monitoring new services, identifying issues and implementing fixes where appropriate. The NTA takes all feedback from the public very seriously, as it should, because it is the public who are using the system. As the Deputy will be aware, on 28 November, the NTA announced that it would amend the alignment of route 80, which runs from Chapelizod to the city centre, in response to passenger needs. The amended route now continues along the north quays to O'Connell Bridge and Custom House Quay before heading north. The NTA also announced a proposal to merge route 80 with the existing route 130, which currently runs from the city centre to Clontarf. The temporary re-routing of bus route 80 will be implemented on 8 February. In the inbound direction, the re-routed route 80 will continue along the north quays to O'Connell Bridge, turning south onto D'Olier Street, College Street, College Green and Dame Street, before rejoining the existing 80 route on South Great Georges Street. The outbound direction is the same but will use Westmoreland Street instead of D'Olier Street. It is, of course, acknowledged that these changes require some passengers to make their journey in a different way. However, in other cases, customers now benefit from direct services where transfers were previously required, while others may need to interchange. The TFI 90-minute fare ensures that transfers incur no additional cost for the customer. Following discussions with-----

I thank the Minister of State.

I will continue with the response later if that is okay with the Deputy.

I appreciate the reply from the Minister of State. This is an important issue for my constituents, who need reassurance. I emailed the NTA but my office has not received a response from it. I acknowledge the work of Independent Councillor Breen on the north side. I also acknowledge the work of the Acting Chair, Deputy Cummins, who worked very hard on the route 80, which affects her side of the city. If the NTA is to proceed with a merger, I can understand the changes to route 80 but not for the 130 bus route. I have visited special education schools in north Dublin with the Minister of State. Changes to people's routine can really affect them. A lot of constituents have contacted me who are terrified of the changes. They have learned the route and they are used to it. The merger cannot go ahead. If it does go ahead, there needs to be another option for these people. Will the Minister of State relay to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, the need to engage directly with the affected communities, which I represent? Will he also ensure the NTA publishes the base evidence for the changes? The Minister of State is correct. Obviously, his office knows I always raise, when I have the chance, Stapolin Educate Together National School, but I have him here to relay issues to the Minister for Transport. The bottom line is that the public need to be consulted properly, the reliability issue needs to be fixed, including the ghost buses that are being experienced across all the bus routes in north Dublin, and the data needs to be published. It is very simple for people to hide behind data. If the data is published, we can hold the system accountable. In the last 15 seconds, if the classrooms are sanctioned in Stapolin Educate Together National School, then the necessary funding-----

Deputy, stick to the topic.

-----for those classrooms needs to be provided. It is not fair to sanction classrooms for a school and not provide the area for SNAs to teach in.

I addressed that issue during Commencement matters in Seanad Éireann this morning as well. I assure the Deputy that I am aware of the issue.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit.

Regarding the 80 and the 130 bus routes, it is of course acknowledged that these changes will require some passengers to take different routes. Following on from the discussions with Dublin City Council, in 2027 and in advance of the closure of Dame Street between College Green and South Great George's Street to facilitate the College Green pedestrian plaza scheme planned by Dublin City Council, it is proposed that this temporary rerouting be removed. In this event, route 80 and route 130 will then be combined into one route on a cross-city basis. The combined route will run along the north and south quays between Heuston Station and the Custom House. The NTA understands that changes of this scale require adjustments and that some customers may experience challenges during the bedding-in period. The Department of Transport is engaging with the National Transport Authority, which will continue to monitor the situation closely and make further refinements where necessary. Recent actions taken during the roll-out of the BusConnects Dublin phase 7 demonstrated the collective and collaborative approach between the Government, the NTA and the public transport operators in being responsive to the feedback provided in the best interest of the passengers. I will relay exactly what the Deputy has said but it is also hugely important for public bodies such as the National Transport Authority to be very closely aligned and listening to the concerns of the public. Those are concerns for those who, in this instance, are using the services on a twice-daily period. When a commitment is given that leaflets will be sent out, that must be sacrosanct. It must be done because it is only with the collaboration and the goodwill of the public that we will can effect change; not just in this but right across government.