103. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Transport for an update on the new start date for the 199 Local Link bus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46559/26]

Sentiment score: 0.01

Can the Minister give me an update on the Local Link 199 service and when it is due to start? It was actually meant to start last September. A bus has been purchased for it. Drivers are in place. The community really needs this bus service up and running. There is very much a lack of clarity because the Government says one thing and the NTA says the other. Can we have a start date for this service this morning?

Sentiment score: 0.00

I thank the Minister but that response just is not good enough. It just does not cut it. This service was to start last September. People have been relying on it. They have been making life decisions - dropping out of college, not able to get jobs in other parts - because they are relying on this service to go from, say, Roundwood to Bray. They were told it would happen in September. I am glad to hear the Minister say that it should happen from next January but what people need is an actual date. We have some members of the Government saying that an announcement was to be made last week and the NTA says there is no funding for this. There is a complete lack of clarity. This service needs to start at least in September because people in those areas cannot get to college or get to many of the schools they need to get to. To say now that there will be another six months' delay, following a year's delay, is just not good enough.

Sentiment score: -0.07

I do acknowledge that the Minister is trying to give a realistic date. I think that has been part of the problem: that people have been waiting week by week for this service to be rolled out. The difficulty, however, is that I was told in May last year that this service was funded, that the money was there for it. It was tendered and it was contracted. There is a bus sitting in Clonshaugh in Dublin empty, not running, waiting to be used on this service. Four drivers have been hired for this service. Everything is ready to go, and I do not understand how that funding is no longer there. I know the Minister is saying that he is trying to stabilise funding this year and next year and that new services will come in but this service was promised. Because we are coming into the start of a new school year and a new college year, I ask that the Minister try to find that funding for just four months of the year to get this running. It is ready to go. Literally, the bus is sitting there. I ask the Minister to try to find that funding to bridge that gap.

Sentiment score: 0.01