I thank Deputy Moynihan for giving me the opportunity to address the issue of bus services for people living west of Cork city. I want to clarify from the outset that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport but that neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. Statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the NTA. The NTA works with the public transport operators who deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That said, I reassure 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 in funding for PSO and TFI Local Link services, an increase from €650 million in 2025. This will go towards funding and subsidising existing public transport services across Ireland by maintaining targeted fares, including initiatives such as the recently introduced free travel for all children up to the age of nine and the young adult card for those aged from 19 to 25 as part of the NTA’s national fares strategy. The Department continues to engage with the NTA to ensure existing levels of service, resilience and driver shortages are considered, and to ensure that planning and strategic decisions are informed by both operational and resource considerations. A sum of €31 million has been secured for continued investment in our rural transport service in 2026, a 38% increase on last year’s funding. This funding ensures the continued delivery of vital transport services across rural Ireland, building on the significant increase in recent years. In County Cork in particular, funding increased by 47% between 2024 and 2025, boosting passenger numbers by 95%. A great example of this continued investment can be seen on route 519, introduced in July 2025. This new route provides passengers travelling from Charleville to Cork with a morning service at 7.05 a.m. and a service from Cork to Charleville at 5.45 p.m., Monday to Friday. This new route is part of the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan, a major public transport initiative. Since 2022, 185 new and enhanced services have commenced. Over 240 towns and villages are now linked into the public transport network. Thirty-six of these new and enhanced services were delivered in 2025. These services, introduced under Connecting Ireland, now provide new transport connections to 41 higher education facilities and 61 healthcare facilities, as well as offering 71 connections to rail services, allowing passengers to continue to connect to the wider TFI network. Approximately 600,000 people now have access to these new services. Increased services have led to exponential growth in passenger numbers, with more than 8 million passenger journeys recorded across services in 2025. This represents an increase of 70% when compared with patronage in 2023. The expansion of rural bus services has brought life back into villages and towns. Under the Connecting Ireland initiative, the NTA plans to extend the 320 service to Charleville rail station and extend the frequency of services connecting Charleville town centre to the station, as well as Limerick city, Patrickswell and Croom, subject to the availability of funding and operational readiness. I assure the Deputy that transport connectivity is very important for people who live and work in rural Ireland, including in west Cork.

Sentiment score: 0.36

I thank the Deputy. I reassure him again that the Department, its Minister, Deputy O’Brien, my fellow Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I are fully committed to delivering a more sustainable, inclusive and accessible transport system for the benefit of current and future generations. In the Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future, the Government committed to the continued roll-out of the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan. Investment can be seen in the enhanced route 521 between Newcastle West and Charleville. This enhanced service now includes the addition of an early-morning service and higher frequency services from Thursday to Sunday. It operates seven daily return services from Monday to Wednesday, nine daily return services from Thursday to Saturday and four daily return services on Sunday. The route also provides late-evening and peak-time services for commuters and improved connectivity to Limerick city. The NTA has stated a number of new routes and route enhancements under the plan have yet to be implemented. The Deputy mentioned route 256 between Bantry and Macroom. This is at an advanced stage of planning and commencement is subject to funding. Discussions are ongoing between the Department of Transport and the NTA. Currently, they do not have a definite timeframe, but I can assure the Deputy that route 256, and the 257 and 233 he mentioned, will be raised with the Department and the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, and the other Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer. We will see where we can get with them. I appreciate the Deputy’s passionate plea. Coming from a rural constituency myself, I see the growth in demand for public transport. It is up to the Government to deliver on that. I thank the Deputy.

Sentiment score: 0.25

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I note Manna Air Delivery's recent statement that it will for now cease deliveries by drone in Ireland. The Minister recently met with representatives of Manna Air Delivery and we welcome the company's continued commitment to operating significant research and development and manufacturing bases in Ireland, where it will test, design and build drones. The company will continue to pursue international opportunities with the Irish bases central to that strategy. From an aviation safety perspective, the regulation of both the recreational and commercial use of drones, or "unmanned aircraft systems", UAS, as they are technically called, is provided for under European Union regulations that are directly applicable to Ireland. Two drone-specific EU regulations ensure drone operations across Europe are safe and secure. Regulation 2019/947 sets operational rules that apply to both professional drone operators and those flying drones for leisure. Another regulation sets the common EU-wide technical requirements for drones and the features and capabilities that drones must have in order to be flown safely. This regulation also seeks to foster investment in the industry. The Irish Aviation Authority, the civil aviation regulator, oversees the implementation of the EU regulations and standards. The drone regulations are operation-centric and focus on the risk of drone operations so regulation is lighter on low-risk operations and more demanding on high-risk operations. Under the EU regulatory regime, drone operations are classified into three broad categories, open, specific and certified, with different regulatory considerations applying to each category. Commercial drone operations may fall into any one of the categories depending on the risk associated. Low-risk commercial drone operations, such as aerial photography, which the Deputy mentioned, may fall into the open category where regulation and oversight of operations are lighter. Other commercial drone operations, such as drone delivery operations, are more closely regulated. These types of commercial drone operations may fall into the medium-risk specific category, which may require specific authorisation by the IAA. This type of operation is recognised EU member states. To obtain an operational authorisation, an operator must provide a comprehensive safety portfolio, which includes assessing and addressing both ground and air risks with appropriate mitigations. Manna Air Delivery holds such an authorisation from the IAA. In addition to complying with the drone regulation, drone operators are also subject to national laws, including environmental, planning and data protection laws. While there is a comprehensive regulatory framework in place from an aviation perspective, there are areas where the rapid pace of expansion of UAS operations has resulted in gaps and uncertainties. The Government, aware that the impact of the growing UAS sector needed further consideration, included in the programme for Government a commitment to guide high-level strategic planning and the development of the sector in Ireland. The national policy framework for UAS, agreed by the Government, was published by the Minister in August last year. The policy framework aims to guide high-level strategic planning and development in the drone sector in Ireland through support, growth and innovation, while ensuring safe and secure operations. It seeks to identify and address any policy, regulatory or legislative gaps that may have arisen due to the pace of the expansion of the drone operations. These include areas such as planning and noise regulation where the rapid pace of expansion of drone operations have resulted in gaps and uncertainty. The policy framework proposed a number of structures and actions that aim to address concerns in relation to UAS usage and operations in balance with the realisation of the economic and societal benefits from the emerging sector. There is also a need for clarity on areas outside aviation safety and in respect of the roles and responsibility of bodies. Since the launch of the policy, the Department of Transport has also established the national policy monitoring group and this group will support and monitor progress on the implementation of the framework. I will continue with the rest of my response later.

Sentiment score: 0.20

Implementation of the policy framework is tracked and reported on through a series of annual action plans and progress reports. An implementation action plan for 2026, which sets out actions and corresponding timelines, is available on the Government's website. It is important for the public to know that. I am aware that the rapid pace of expansion of UAS operations has resulted in challenges and generated real concerns and uncertainty among communities, as the Deputy explained, particularly around the issues of noise, intrusion and privacy. The policy framework seeks to identify and address any policy regulatory or legislative gaps. The framework proposes a number of structures and actions to address concerns in relation to UAS usage and operations. It proposes 16 actions under three main areas: the use of airspace and planning; compliance and enforcement; and enterprise and innovation. Actions in the policy framework include the establishment of a national working group on UAS geographical zones to develop transparent processes and procedures for the designation of these zones; the safe management of the integration of UAS into our airspace; the impact on society and the environment; the establishment of a national u-space steering group to develop a national plan for the implementation of the u-space; a set of specific procedures designed to ensure safe and efficient access to and coexistence in airspace for the high volume of UAS; and the establishment of a UAS enterprise and innovation leadership group to foster the development of a robust ongoing policy on innovation. Implementation of the policy framework relies on cross-governmental structures, and the continuation of engagement and support from various Departments, agencies, the UAS sector and most importantly the public. I encourage the public to keep engaging on this particular matter. I again thank the Deputy for raising such an important matter.

Sentiment score: 0.34