I am going to keep this local as well. I want to talk about the 13 bus route. It is planned to be replaced with the D3 route under BusConnects. After Watery Lane, the D3 route will now go down the New Nangor Road and up the Long Mile Road towards Cork Street. Clondalkin, and Bawnoges in particular, will now lose a valuable connection to Bluebell, Inchicore, St. James’s Hospital and the Liberties. There is a strong historical, cultural and familial connection between Clondalkin, Inchicore and Bluebell. Many families moved from Inchicore and Bluebell up to Clondalkin over the years. They still go back to visit families and friends on a regular basis. The 13 bus route is vital in this regard. I also want to put on my St. Patrick’s Athletic FC hat and say that many people who use the 13 bus route go to Inchicore to cheer on St. Pat’s. I use the bus to go to matches. I see the same people on the bus going to and from matches. It is vital that this cultural link is kept in place for people who cheer on St. Pat’s in Richmond Park. There is also the vital link to St. James’s Hospital that has to be taken into consideration, as well as the many people who still travel to the Liberties to socialise and do their shopping. Another issue with the D3 route is that it will not serve Woodford or the Monastery Road. People living along Woodford and Monastery Road will lose a bus to town and to Clondalkin village. I am asking the NTA to take all these factors into consideration before it makes any decision to replace the 13 bus with the D3. A particular issue we have in my area relates to the provision of car parking spaces. We have a number of developments in the area that do not have the appropriate number of car parking spaces. I get the idea behind this whereby the Government wants to see people out of cars and onto public transport. That is all well and good in theory but in practice it is a different story. An infrequent and often unreliable bus service means the car is still a necessity. We have seen tensions rising in the likes of Kilcarbery, Seven Mills, Citywest and Adamstown because of a lack of parking in these new builds. The Government needs to get its act together and provide proper parking and also reliable public transport. Earlier, I raised DART+ South West with the Taoiseach. The Minister relayed to me before that the delay to DART+ South West is because of an interconnection with another project. My understanding is it is lack of money going to the NTA. Will the Minister confirm that?

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