95. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport if he will commit to the development of an orbital bus service for Mallow to alleviate traffic congestion in the town centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48988/25]

Sentiment score: 0.11

Will the Minister for Transport commit to the development of an orbital bus service for the town of Mallow to alleviate the traffic congestion in Mallow? As we are aware, the Government made a commitment previously to build a northern distributor road around Mallow but, to date, it has not been delivered. I accept that takes time. Will the Minister commit in the meantime, for the next seven years, to establishing a north-south orbital bus route for Mallow to ease congestion in the town?

Sentiment score: 0.36

I thank the Minister of State. I am very grateful for his help in securing the money for the Mallow distributor road. We accept that it is vital that we get it up and running. In the meantime, I am delighted with the Minister of State's reply to the effect that the NTA is exploring looking at putting the orbital route in place. The Minister of State visited my constituency several times. I invite him to Mallow to have a look at the congestion. I know he is very familiar with the area. I would like to bring him to see what downtown Mallow is like. The fact is that you cannot get from Ballyviniter into the town itself, and we do not have enough parking. It is a wonderful, fantastic town. I chose to live there myself for the last 24 years, but it does have its challenges. Until we have the Mallow distributor road built, we need orbital bus routes to get the traffic off the streets because it is so spread out, and because it has been a success story with housing estate after housing estate. Orbital bus routes could be very helpful. That could probably be introduced as part of the Fermoy to Mallow bus service.

Sentiment score: 0.36

The Minister of State never called in.

Sentiment score: 0.00

That is no problem at all. As he is aware, the Minister of State is more than welcome in my home and he is certainly more than welcome in my local pub as well, Albert Lynch's. He has outlined what Mallow needs. I accept that we also need to have a commitment not just to the Mallow distributor road but to the northern ring road around Cork and to the Cork to Limerick road, which will be key infrastructure for delivering to the town of Mallow and Cork North-Central. I was disturbed, upset and perturbed when I heard the leader of the Labour Party last week on Leaders' Questions. She was very much at odds with her backbenchers. She objected to the building of roads and took umbrage with the Government and the Minister who was standing in for the Taoiseach on the day. She said that we are not building enough bicycle lanes and the Government has rowed back on its commitment. There are many things I can criticise the Government for, but it has been very good at building bicycle lanes. There has been a very good commitment from this new Administration when it comes to the building of roads.

Sentiment score: 0.17

Does the Minister of State agree that we should ask the Labour Party leader-----

Sentiment score: 0.64