Jerry Buttimer

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht na ceiste. Is cúis mhór bhróid dom an cheist seo a fhreagairt ar son mo chomhghleacaithe, an tAire, an Teachta Calleary, agus go mórmhór an tAire Iompair, an Teachta O'Brien. I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and for his interest in rural transport. He will have a group from west Waterford here tomorrow. I hope we will get together. The …

As the Deputy is aware, I have been in west Waterford and I hope we will find a solution to that impasse. Having visited the site and spoken to locals, what is happening there does not make sense to me. I have asked that it be looked at. I will make the point in the round that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has been proactive, as have I, in being an advocate for rural Ireland and rural communitie…

-----we will continue to drive stakeholder engagement.

The Government and the Department of Transport have been proactive in their support of rural transport. I do not think the Deputy would dismiss the fact that this year €718 million has been allocated to investment in the regional and local road network. I do not think the Deputy will oppose that and Waterford, through its county council, has received significant funding. The Department of Rural a…

I do not think it is as simple as the Deputy thinks but I thank her for the question. It is an important question. The provision of community childcare is very important. The Deputy and I probably share a view on the issue. As she will know, this does not necessarily fall under the remit of the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. I will come back to her again. I hope we wil…

I understand where the Deputy is coming from. I genuinely do. Empower is the community childcare provider in her area. It does phenomenal work. As the Deputy knows, SICAP does not directly provide that community childcare place. I am meeting John Logue and Richard Bruton from Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, next week to have a conversation with them in terms of this piece. I will pose…

Okay. I will come back again.

The important point is that there is a commitment by the Government. I share the Deputy's confidence in terms of the capacity of social enterprises to deliver. I will have that conversation next week, but it would be fair to say that we are seeing a co-ordinated response from the Government. We are tackling the key issues. There is a deficit in some places around the provision of community childca…

I will come back in again if I can.

Okay.

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I have developed a range of funding schemes and interventions which advance the development of communities across the country. While many of the Department's schemes are focused on rural areas, others traverse both rural and urban communities. These include the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, the co…

I appreciate that Dundrum, in some cases, is not eligible for funding under some of the criteria for schemes. The Minister and I have had conversations with many Deputies in the House, especially those from west Dublin, parts of Cork South-Central and parts of the Deputy’s own constituency. We are very much committed to community development and regeneration. The Deputy will have heard the Ministe…

In a previous reply, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, mentioned the new building and community investment funding. It is important to make the point that it is a cross-governmental approach working with the local authority. In terms of civic and community culture and civic hubs, the Minister and I want all local communities to develop. We are ambitious that people can live and flourish in some cases…

Tá na Teachtaí an-ghnóthach.

I thank Deputy Quinlivan for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I commend the Deputy on raising the matter because it gives us the opportunity to provide an update on BusConnects in Limerick. I will take this opportunity to highlight some sustainable mobility developments in Limerick more generally. I will bring the comments the Deputy made regarding th…

The Deputy is correct. Bus services need to be safe, reliable and accessible. I will take the points he made about the areas he mentioned back to the Minister. The Deputy referred to active travel. There needs to be collaboration between the NTA and the city and county council with regard to the issue to which he referred, particularly in the context of safety. If we are doing active travel, it m…

Hear, hear.

We are the best county, a Cheann Comhairle.

Gabhaim buíochas le gach ball a bhí páirteach sa díospóireacht thábhachtach seo. Guím Bród sona ar gach duine. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle as ceannaireacht a thabhairt do gach Ball den Teach an tseachtain seo caite mar gheall ar cheiliúradh Bhród. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for her leadership as the custodian of the Chair of the House, for being impartial and for being a leader in …

Correct.

Our Department, the NTA and service operators are working hard to deliver improvements to public transport services, including contactless payments and late-night services. We have delivered significant improvements over the past number of years, which should be pointed out. I thank the Deputy for his advocacy and commitment to enhanced public transport. The continued roll-out of the BusConnects n…

The points the Deputy has raised are fundamental to our philosophy in terms of where we want to go with public transport. I was reflecting on that the other day when I was at Cork Airport, where there is an issue with the bus service. The Deputy is right that we need to think differently. The existing transport provision timetable has changed. The Minister is very much committed to bringing new el…

I will take the Deputy's points back to the Department. As Minister of State with responsibility for rural transport, I am very aware of the success of Local Link services. There has been an exponential growth in the numbers using those services all across the country. Fundamentally, the Minister, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and I are all about ensuring sustainability and stabilisation t…

He is going to leave the Chamber after the question.

I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising this matter which I am taking on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. The 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. The services are subsidised and the NTA is responsible fo…