2026-01-15

102. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Transport the new bus routes that will be provided under his Department's 2026 current expenditure allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2584/26]

What new bus routes will be provided under the Department's 2026 current expenditure allocation?

Improving accessibility, reliability and affordability of public transport while ensuring the system remains well funded and responsive to passenger needs is a core priority under the programme for Government. While my Department sets the overall policy direction and funding framework for the delivery of public transport services, the NTA has the statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public transport services nationally. In this context, we secured an unprecedented allocation of €940 million for the PSO services in budget 2026. I mentioned this in my previous answer to the Deputy. That was a 43% uplift in one year alone. It has raised that base. As I mentioned earlier, we did not want to continue the practice of the previous five years of going back for continued supplementary budgets because you cannot plan properly. We need to get the PSO onto a sustainable footing. We have taken a real step forward in that regard. As the Deputy is aware, supplementary funding has become a recurring requirement and we wanted to move away from that. Accordingly, the 2026 allocation prioritised advancement of ongoing programmes and commitments in line with operational readiness and resource availability. This includes recently announced changes to the route alignments under phase 7 of BusConnects and the upcoming roll-out of new town services in, for example, Mullingar, County Westmeath, in quarter 1 of 2026. I will continue, with colleagues, to engage with the NTA as it finalises its 2026 service plan, ensuring that planning and strategic decisions are informed by operational and resource considerations. Once we receive the draft plan, the Ministers of State and I will assess that. I expect there will be new services in 2026. We have to consolidate the new services brought in during the past couple of years. We have to manage the resources properly, which we will. I do not have the service plan yet, but I expect to get it imminently. We will take the feedback we get from all colleagues, Government and Opposition, with regard to services that are needed. People are using public transport at a level they never have before, which is great, and we want to continue to support that.

The Minister has set out the size and, in his own words, the unprecedented current expenditure allocation for 2026. I am concerned it only gives him enough to maintain existing levels of services. That seems to be backed up by what his officials said. The minutes of the management board meeting were quoted in the paper: "The allocation, while substantial, will not allow for new services to be delivered" in 2026. For example, on the BusConnects programme for Galway city, the NTA said in 2023 that Galway's new bus network was scheduled for 2025 to 2026. However, when I contacted the NTA in November last year, it said that the new bus network in Galway city was currently scheduled to commence implementation in 2027 to 2028, subject to operational readiness and confirmation of funding. To be clear, the NTA is saying this is not an infrastructural issue, but a funding issue. Funding is key to the decision about whether Galway gets its new BusConnects system. I am concerned that gap in funding for new services identified by the Minister's officials is the blockage for BusConnects in Galway.

I also saw that article and will take the opportunity to say we need the investment in the new services, like the N8 bus link from Dublin 15. However, we definitely need investment in existing services as well due to a growing population, growing demand and growth in housing. The Minister and I spoke about the fact that investment in existing services in Dublin West had reduced to €97 in 2022 and there was zero budget for 2023 in enhancing existing services. That led to serious reliability issues across the 37, 38, 39 and 40 buses. They are the backbone of our constituency. We need to invest in both new services and enhancing existing services. It was foolhardy to prioritise new services over existing services, leaving communities like mine behind from 2022 to 2024. It would also be foolhardy to now go in the opposite direction. I know from speaking to the Minister that it is a priority for him to invest in both and get it right for all the population of Dublin.

We will take Dublin as an example. I am using Dublin because two Dublin Deputies have asked this question. We had 164 million passenger journeys on Dublin Bus alone last year. Those are record-breaking numbers. That has been supported by new services being rolled out and improvements to existing services, even acknowledging that there have been human resource challenges. We still have issues in some areas with reliability of services. The ghost bus phenomenon needs to be addressed because the customer needs to be central to everything our bus and rail operators do all the way across the country. It has to be about serving the paying customer because people are responding to the investment. We will not be able to do every new route that everyone wants in one particular year. We have to step that out and move it through. Deputy Currie mentioned the N8 and has asked me direct questions on that before, as have Deputy O'Gorman, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and others. I intend to get that route in place in 2026. I am clear about that. We have to work with partners in the NTA and we have a budget to manage. We do not have infinite resources either. Let us be clear about that, too. Getting the PSO onto a sustainable footing was critical. I was not going to do what was done over the past five years, which was to depend on large supplementary budgets coming in at the end of every year to support service expansion. That is not the way to do business. That is why my two Minsters of State and I insisted that we get a significant increase into the base in the PSO. That gives us a real platform to move forward into 2027 to 2028 and beyond.

For my part, I will always fight for new bus services and public transport routes around the country. I brought in a question earlier specifically about the N8, a new service we have desperately needed for years and that has been pushed back. I am glad that the Minister is going to intervene, and we look forward to seeing that delivered this year. I think about the growth of housing around our city and brand new estates in areas like Tyrrelstown, Hollywoodrath and Kilmartin Grove. These are entirely new estates in places that were fields two or three years ago. Those areas need new services. It is not always enough to say we have boosted the existing services, because there are brand new areas that have been created. Particularly in those parts of my constituency, and the Minister and I were at the opening of many of those homes, I know that many people cannot get into town because the bus routes are inadequate. That is why we have to fight for new services as well as improved capacity on existing services.

When I want to take a bus or train from Belfast to Dublin, Dundalk or Drogheda, the routes have improved. By rail or bus, they are absolutely excellent and even on the hour. However, if I want to go from east to west, from Clogherhead to Dunleer or Ardee and on to Trim or Kells, there are no buses and no public services to enable people to get to work or to get to medical appointments. I have written again and again to the NTA with no reply. If there is any reply, it is saying they have no plans to develop any services east to west within County Louth, or even connecting County Louth to County Meath. I find this extraordinary when we are trying to encourage people to use more public transport. There is the cost to car owners and to people who have to take time off work to bring loved ones to medical appointments. Surely this is something that can be considered.

By the range and depth of the questions and contributions here, we see all of the different demands on the Department of Transport. That is good. We have advocates right the way across the House, but we have a Government that needs to deliver. We need to continue a phased and sustainable improvement in services. My predecessor in transport, the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, did a good job and we worked with him in that regard. We needed to get that funding on a sustainable footing and I was not going to continue what was done previously. It meant having to go back every single year and look for short-term moneys to plug the gap. We need to be able to plan in a sustainable way. That is how the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, answered Deputy Whitmore earlier when she asked for a bus service to be announced. It has to be done in a planned way. We have to look at the network in its totality, all the way across the country. Deputy Dolan raised specific issues in his own constituency that we will work through. I am concerned that the Deputy said he wrote to the NTA and got no response. That is not acceptable. I ask him to bring those to us. Every Deputy deserves a response and for their input to be respected. We will make a further improvement this year in 2026. Am I going to be able to keep everybody happy with all the services they want in 2026? No, I am not. However, we are going to see a further step change in that regard, an increase and improvement. We particularly have to serve our newer communities. We cannot look at this in isolation to the NDP capital investments. We are talking about the bus network. The first two BusConnects corridors have started and there has been major investment in rail, road and our bus network as well. We have lots of good things. This period of time could be transformational. There were 343 million public transport journeys in 2024. That was throughout the full year. That will have substantially increased further in 2025. People are responding to the investment the Government is making. This is good for our climate and quality of life. We need to continue to improve it, and we will by working with people.