I need to raise with the Minister of State the need to improve bus services on the western side of County Cork, from Cork city, up the Lee valley towards Ballyvourney, the upper Blackwater valley over as far as Millstreet and along the Bandon Valley too. Students need to be able to get to college on time. People need to be able to get to work on time and to use public transport to do that, and to be able to get back home again in a timely way as well. These are growing communities west of Cork city. Large numbers of houses are being built, or are already built, with construction happening in places like Millstreet, Ballyvourney, Macroom, Coachford, Cloghduff, and Ovens. They need that infrastructure to be able to get to and from work and into Cork city. I acknowledge that progress has been made on public transport locally with the installation and building of bus shelters, and the new improvement of the No. 40 route, with the stop on the western side of Macroom, as well as the recently approved planning permission for Macroom bus station. Macroom bus station, after the bypass has been built, offers a real opportunity to act as a hub, so there will be buses coming in from the likes of Killarney, Bantry, Millstreet, Bandon and Cork, and an opportunity for people to switch services there. One service which I want to draw particular attention to is the 256. This is coming from Bantry. Currently, two local transport initiatives operate back to back, Bantry to Ballingeary and Inchigeelagh to Macroom. The NTA has been examining this option, which is advanced, fully planned and ready to go. It is joining the dots, putting together the two services to have one continuous service operating from Bantry through to Macroom. However, they are held up waiting for PSO funding. The new service is not a far-off concept. It is ready to go. The NTA needs to get the PSO funding up and running. The 257 is planned to run from Millstreet to Macroom to Bandon. Half of that is done, so the next stage, from Macroom to Bandon, needs to advance. There are also plans fairly well advanced with BusConnects to serve Ovens. Things need to advance for Crossbarry and Donoughmore. Many of the projects are already under way or fairly advanced in planning, but they are stuck waiting for PSO funding. The NTA is very clear on that. Really what we need to do is bring them along to that next stage. If the Minister looks, for example, at that 257 that I gave as an example, the council is already planning bus stops and bus shelters along part of that, including, for example, in Crookstown. The actual bus part needs to be advanced. The NTA is adamant that it has done its planning and is now waiting for PSO funding. Cork North-West needs delivery, certainty and fairness, not further delays.

Sentiment score: 0.17

I thank the Minister of State for outlining the various works under way. I readily acknowledge that there is headway being made in different places. In this regard I have referred to bus shelters, including for the No. 40 route. Time and again, I have raised here the need to advance the 233 bus service. It is a vital service that goes up and down the Lee valley, serving the area from Macroom to Cork. However, it does not serve those settlements alone as it also services a huge number of people in growing communities in between, from Kilmurry to Crookstown. Cloghduff is growing dramatically, as are Aherla, Killumney and Ovens. On the other side of the Lee, over in Carrig, there are Dripsey and Coachford. Large numbers of houses have been built in this area and people are moving in. They want to be able to get to and from college on time. They want a bus that will give them an opportunity to get to work. The background work by the NTA is under way on these routes. Its plan is to have three strands of the 233 service, for example in the north, centre and south, to serve the various communities. Again, the NTA is coming up against the roadblock I have described. It was very clear when we raised the matter with them that, as much planning as it has done, it is held up waiting for PSO funding to be able to advance the routes. The 233 is an essential service to serve communities right down the Lee valley. Can the Minister give an indication of when the NTA can expect to get the PSO funding to have the routes in place? Cork North-West needs delivery, certainty and fairness, not further delays.

Sentiment score: 0.11