David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. It is great to see a Minister from the Department here. I congratulate him on his promotion and wish him the very best in the weeks, months and hopefully years ahead. This is an issue I have been raising for quite some time. I am lucky enough to represent a constituency that is growing rapidly. A lot of houses are being built there, thousands in Midleton. We are concerned about the N25 road between Midleton and Carrigtohill which the council and TII had huge plans to upgrade. The Minister of State might look at that at another time. Lakeview roundabout is beyond capacity and is very dangerous. There are plans to upgrade the road from Midleton to Youghal as well and to build a new road. Some €450,000 was given this year to appoint consultants and so on. That is all ongoing.

In the meantime, almost every morning now we hear about congestion on the N25 approaching Castlemartyr from the east. Every day this is the case. On summer days there are infuriating long roadblocks of traffic just held up there, all the time. We have a greenway as well going from Midleton to Youghal. It is advancing and is very popular and fantastic to see. I invite the Minister of State to come down during the summer and cycle along it. Part of it is open and more of it will be open later this year. That runs along the old railway line. When that railway line was constructed initially way back, it was meant to be a double line. The greenway takes up about half of it. I have looked at the drone footage taken recently and there is space left almost as wide again.

I was very involved in the campaign to open the rail link to Midleton, which has proven to be very successful, so much so that they are going to move to a ten-minute frequency of trains. They will be battery operated. The trains in the morning and evening peak times are full at the moment. It is really successful. There were calls at the time to extend that line to Youghal. It was deemed not to be economically feasible. In fact, we were lucky to get the service to Midleton open. The crash came shortly after it did open. The Midleton to Youghal link is still there. I have been talking to people about what is possible here. We have come up with an interim solution of a rapid bus transit system. These are very popular all over the world. They do not require tracks or signalling. All it requires is Tarmac the width of a bus, that is all. It does not need to be too big as we could have passing bays for other buses. That could be done along the way from Youghal to Midleton.

I have written to TII and got a letter back saying it was a novel, interesting idea that had not been proposed before but they did not think it would be feasible. I am asking the Minister of State this morning to carry out a feasibility study on this idea to see what it would cost. We do not need a very wide roadway; it can be quite narrow. The width of one bus is enough. We are talking about trams that would move up and down during the day and would link with the train service from Midleton. People from Youghal, Killeagh and Mogeely could use that, which would take some of the traffic off the N25. I spoke about that already. There is really worrying congestion on the N25 between Midleton and Youghal at the moment and this would help.

With the train service to Midleton being improved with regard to capacity and frequency, it would make a lot of sense to do this. I know the new road from Midleton to Youghal is in the planning stage. TII has said it will take years and years - maybe ten years or more - before we see it finalised, and that is being optimistic. This is something that could be done relatively easily. I know there are pinch points along the way, such as bridges that have to be replaced, and there are issues in the area, but all I want the Minister of State to do this morning is to ask TII to carry out a study on it to see what is possible and whether it can be done. There may be some CPOs involved here as well. It is a relatively inexpensive proposal, compared to a railway. I have seen the drone footage. There is space there for it and it would make a lot of sense. It would link the towns of Youghal and Midleton. It would not really impinge on the greenway because the buses would not travel all the time. They would only be there as required, which would be maybe every half an hour or every hour in the middle of the day. It would not impinge on people using the greenway.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Teachta. I thank Deputy Stanton for his kind comments. Indeed, I worked well with him when the shoe was on the other foot, when he was in ministerial office and I was a backbench Deputy. I thank him for the courtesy he extended to me at the time and his helpfulness in dealing with my queries. I hope I can reciprocate.

I had the opportunity to visit County Cork on one of my first ministerial outings on Monday of this week. Granted, I was not in the Deputy's area, but I went to Macroom with Deputy Aindrias Moynihan. I saw Millstreet railway station, the upgraded N22 and the opportunity for active travel on the old N22. There are a lot of opportunities there. I am very excited about the opportunities for active travel and for greener projects such as the one the Deputy has spoken of in his Topical Issue. It is quite an interesting proposal. We have all seen the "rail to trail" idea, whereby an old railway line is stripped out and replaced with a greenway where the land is still reserved and owned by the State. It is popular in the United States and elsewhere. It has been done here. The Deputy's "trail to bus" suggestion almost does things the other way round while making use of land that may be available. It is an interesting proposition.

A number of projects are ongoing in the Cork area, as the Deputy will probably be aware. The Cork metropolitan area transport strategy has been developed to deliver an accessible, integrated transport network, including a bus system, that enables the sustainable growth of Cork up to 2040. Good progress has been made in delivering on that strategy, including the BusConnects Cork programme, which will be transformative for Cork, as BusConnects generally will be for all cities. The designers of that programme, Jarrett Walker and Associates, carried out a review of bus services in the Cork metropolitan area in conjunction with the National Transport Authority, Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Bus Éireann and developed a new network of bus services for the Cork metropolitan area. Following an extensive public consultation process, the new BusConnects network was finalised and published in June 2022. This includes the proposed 31X bus route between Youghal and Cork city centre, which will pass through Midleton. This route will provide a relevant road-based route for the Cork-Youghal, as opposed to the greenway, which is naturally focused on walking and cycling. The Deputy's proposal is to run a bus along the greenway and I would like to drill into it a little more. Instinctively, it appears that it may conflict with pedestrians and cyclists. The 31X will provide a road-based route which would not have that conflict. I am open to the Deputy’s thoughts on that and look forward to hearing them.

Under Connecting Ireland, there is a proposed regional bus corridor route from Cork to Waterford via Youghal, with more frequent services on this corridor and better integration of existing services. It is proposed that this will commence in the coming years. The 31X and other important regional routes will be rolled out in that corridor and will make an impact on the area. The draft network under BusConnects Cork aims to provide an increase of over 50% in bus services across the city. This will provide a better overall network to allow more people to access more places more efficiently, which is at the heart of public transport. These redesigned services will be rolled out in the coming years. Another key component of BusConnects Cork is bus priority measures to tackle the issue of traffic congestion and improve punctuality and reliability. The NTA has conducted a series of public consultations on the new sustainable transport corridors for Cork, including bus routes. A third round of public consultation on the preferred route options for 11 corridors concluded in December. There was a positive response to those proposals and the preparation of a business case is ongoing. Again, that is a further roll-out of additional bus services and corridors in the area.

Additionally, the all-island strategic rail review will inform the development of the railway sector on the island of Ireland over the coming decades. The draft review, which was published for strategic environmental assessment in July of last year, considered a proposal to develop a new railway line between Midleton and Waterford, which would serve Youghal. This did not make the final cut when the recommendations went for implementation. The final review, taking account of the issues raised in the public consultation, will be submitted to the Government shortly and published by the end of the summer.

The development of high-quality cycle infrastructure is a priority for the Department. Greenways enable greater connectivity between local communities. The development of an inter-urban cycling corridor between Waterford and Cork is a key priority project in that programme. I thank the Deputy for raising this Topical Issue and look forward to hearing his response to what I have said.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of good news there, which is very welcome. The big issue here is Castlemartyr, which lies between Midleton and Youghal. The Minister of State might be aware of this very picturesque village and of Castlemartyr Resort, which is very popular. Castlemartyr is a major pinch point. During morning and evening rush hour, there are kilometres of traffic jams on both sides. The same thing happens in the summer when people go to the beaches in the area. It is extraordinarily frustrating. People use the byroads as rat runs to try to avoid Castlemartyr. It is polluting because traffic can be stuck there for an hour or more trying to get through. That is the real elephant in the room.

I know there are plans to build a new road between Midleton and Youghal. As I said earlier, it might take years or decades before we see it because it is a major project - a motorway, if you will. I will explain the proposal for rapid bus transit on the greenway. There is space alongside the greenway. It would not interfere with the greenway at all. I would see a fence between them both. The bus would only travel periodically, as required, maybe more frequently in the morning and evening at rush hour and not as often in the middle of the day. It is a relatively cheap option, as opposed to putting a rail track down, with signalling and all the rest of it. It should be explored because the area is being choked due to the issues in Castlemartyr. When I proposed a relief road around Castlemartyr a little while ago, I was told that was not possible because of the karst limestone landscape in the area, with caves and underground lakes, etc. The people I spoke to were afraid to go near it.

This proposal is something that needs attention. I know that on a high-level look they are saying it is not possible, but I would like more of a deep dive into this. I think there is something in it. I have spoken to Iarnród Éireann and it agrees with me that it can be done. I ask the Minister of State to use his good offices to ask TII to carry out a feasibility study and to do a costing of it. I do not want a dual carriageway there. I do not even want a double-laned highway. A single lane is enough. It is wide enough for that. I have seen the drone footage. It is feasibly possible. It should be examined. It could be done in a relatively short period of time compared to the motorway. Otherwise we will be stuck with these massive traffic jams in Castlemartyr for another decade or more.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the information he has provided in response to me. The problems in Castlemartyr appear to be causing an issue with the 31X proposal, if I understand correctly. The proposed new bus route between Midleton and Youghal will travel through Castlemartyr. Is that the issue?

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The proposed route will go through it and buses will be stuck in traffic.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The proposed route will have to go through it and that is the difficulty. As I understand it, the Deputy's proposal uses the existing greenway infrastructure, which would avoid the bottleneck pinch point at Castlemartyr. That is clear. It is not so much that it is being said that it is not possible but that it is not desirable, which is naturally slightly different. I hear what the Deputy has said. The view of the Department is that the 31X provides that connectivity alongside the other services that are being rolled out in the area. I ask the Deputy to send me that proposal because I will study it and bring it back to TII and the NTA and see what their view on it is. As I said, a number of services are being rolled out. Eleven sustainable transport corridors in the Cork area are being rolled out at the moment, with consultation concluding last December. There was positive stakeholder engagement. They seem to be popular and seem to provide the right service in the right places. The business case for BusConnects Cork will progress shortly. I mentioned the redesigned bus routes across the Cork metropolitan area, which will be part of the Connecting Ireland programme, which will follow shortly also. As I mentioned, the Cork metropolitan area transport strategy is progressing, with significant elements of strategy around the Cork region.

The Cork area commuter rail programme is significant. We are seeing new rail services not just in Dublin but also in Cork and around the country, which is a really positive thing. It is great to see that. This is probably the largest investment in the rail network in Cork ever undertaken by the State. Phase 1 of the Cork area commuter rail programme is progressing well, with works on a new through platform at Kent Station, a resignalling of the network and double tracking from Glounthaune to Midleton, with the track to be complete by 2026. They are all positive moves to get people in the region moving in an efficient and environmentally friendly way on public transport. I thank the Deputy for his suggestion. I invite him to submit the business case or proposal to me for further study, which I will then take to the Department. I might return to the Deputy in due course to see whether this is something that can be progressed. I hear the opportunity it presents and I am open to the idea. Let us see whether we can take it further.