Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I wish to raise with the Minister of State today the issue of public transport in Wicklow. It is one of the main issues people talk to me about. Constituents are being absolutely let down and failed by the Government's approach when it comes to the delivery of public transport. We could see no better or clearer example of that than the absolute chaos on the N11 every single morning. It is worse than it was before Covid-19. There are no longer any peaks on the N11. It is constantly one peak. It is always busy no matter what time one goes onto it.

However, it is not just the N11 where we can see the impacts of failure within Government policy when it comes to public transport provision. It is near impossible to get around Bray, Wicklow town, Greystones, Blessington and every single town at the moment with the level of cars trying to move around them. That is all because we do not have sufficient public transport.

The people in those cars who are making those 1 km journeys around their various towns in the county or those who are stuck on the N11 trying to get into work want to get public transport. The problem is that the public transport is either not there for them or it is not reliable. We have a situation in Wicklow, and it is seen across many parts of the country, where buses that are meant to show up do not show up, or when buses do show up, they are too full and drive past people who are waiting at stops. If people cannot guarantee that they are going to be able to get their bus and get into work, they are not going to be able to rely on it. People cannot continually go into their workplace and say, "I am sorry, but my bus did not show up." People need a reliable and regular service.

The people in Wicklow are not looking for the sun, moon and stars when it comes to public transport. They are looking for very basic public transport provision. They are looking for buses that show up and that will bring them directly to hospitals, such as the 145. There is no direct link now to St. Vincent's hospital from Bray. People are looking for buses that will pick up. We have a situation where a bus will do a drop in Blessington but will not pick people up. The exact same bus on its return journey will not pick people up at the same spot because of some contractual issue the National Transport Authority, NTA, has overseen. It is crazy kind of stuff. There are always problems with the 133 in Newtownmountkennedy. Despite it being raised by multiple people, we are not seeing solutions being put in place. In Greystones, the buses will leave the train station before the DART has arrived. People get the DART and come out of the station to see the bus heading off into the horizon because it has not waited for them. This is basic stuff. Extra carriages are needed on trains. The train coming from Wicklow to Greystones and into Dublin has three carriages when it is absolutely full to the brim every single morning. There is not a single bus link between Wicklow town and Greystones, which has the DART station in it. These are two big towns on the east coast and there is not a single bus link between them. What we are looking for is the Government to provide the absolute basic and then, hopefully, expand to a transformative solution when it comes to public transport. It has to get the basics right, however, and unfortunately, people in Wicklow are not seeing that.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of the Minister for Transport, I thank Deputy Whitmore for raising the important issue of public transport for Wicklow.

Improving public transport services and infrastructure is central to improving citizens’ quality of life and addressing our climate action challenge, and this Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. The National Transport Authority has statutory responsibility for transport planning in the greater Dublin area, GDA, including County Wicklow. The NTA's greater Dublin area transport strategy, which was approved by the Minister for Transport in January 2023, sets out a framework for transport investment across the region over a 20-year period from 2022 to 2042, and it provides a clear statement of transport planning policy for counties Meath, Dublin, Louth, Kildare and Wicklow.

I consider it useful to clarify the planned proposals related to the DART+ Coastal South project and the current position of the proposals and related issues. Modelling undertaken by the NTA for the DART+ programme related to facilitating increased rail services on the Rosslare to Dublin line. This includes an option that would allow Rosslare train services to interchange with the DART at Wicklow or Greystones to connect seamlessly to DART services to or from the heart of Dublin. It must be stressed that this is an infrastructural modelling exercise, and the NTA has advised that no decision has yet been made to alter services on the Rosslare line.

As a Government, we need to provide more options to people in order that they can make the switch to sustainable mobility and within the greater Dublin area, work on the DART+ programme is continuing so it can become part of those options. It is also intended under the GDA transport strategy to further expand the DART to Wicklow town. Extending the DART to Wicklow is also supported in the all-island strategic rail review, which was published in July this year. Design work is ongoing at present by the NTA on the DART+ Coastal South project to plan for the enhanced DART service level from Dublin to Greystones, and a public consultation will be undertaken with regard to those proposals shortly.

In addition, initial planning-design work is currently ongoing by the NTA to establish the feasibility of operating an hourly DART service to and from Wicklow town and Dublin using battery-electric trains that could operate along an unelectrified section of the railway between Greystones and Wicklow. Under this arrangement, one DART per hour arriving at Greystones would be a battery-electric train, which would be able to continue further south along the unelectrified line and terminate at Wicklow town train station, with the same approach in the opposite direction.

Beyond DART services, Bray will be served by BusConnects bus services in the near future. Phase 6a of the network redesign will roll out in early December with the new 24-hour E spine connecting Bray with the city centre and the local L routes connecting Bray and its environs. In addition to the new services, the NTA has submitted a planning application for the Bray to city centre core bus corridor to An Bord Pleanála.

An Bord Pleanála has not yet made a decision on this application. In terms of light rail, a Luas line to Bray is one of the four Luas extensions identified in the greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022-2042 and the development of the Luas line from Bray to the city centre is part of the strategy's medium-term proposals for development and delivery within 2031-2036.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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With all due respect, what the Minister of State has read out is a wish list. The majority of what is contained in his response does not relate to projects that are actually happening and that people would be able to see and use in the near future.

He spoke about the Luas to Wicklow and modelling - just modelling - the DART+ programme. There is no actual project plan or funding there. With regard to the extension of the DART to Wicklow town, the NTA has been very clear that will be five or six years down the road assuming everything goes well, that funding is provided to it and planning permission is received for it. These are all long-term projects. I welcome them and know it takes time to get them in place but what are people in Wicklow meant to do in the meantime? Due to the capacity and issues we see in public transport in Wicklow, people in Wicklow will not be able to wait for five, six or ten years for this or the next Government to get this right.

That is what I am saying - to get back to basics. Put buses in. They are easy to buy and operate. Put LocalLink buses in, small buses that go around our towns and that pick people from their homes and their estates. Ease that traffic that is clogging up our main streets. Put extra carriages on. Why we do not have trains with a sufficient number of carriages in Wicklow is just beyond me.

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, a Green Party TD, is the Minister for the environment and Minister for Transport, and the fact the public transport system in Wicklow is so poor is a really big reflection on his capacity to be able to deliver. This is not rocket science. All we are looking for are buses that actually perform the service they are meant to perform. We will be handing out €8 billion in fines to Europe in 2030 if we do not meet our emissions target and transport is the one area in which our emissions are continually going up. Rather than paying a cheque for €8 billion to Europe where we will see no advantage from it I ask that the Minister and whoever is in government next invest heavily in public transport infrastructure to assist and invest in our communities and to assist people in getting buses and trains to work, school or down town when they need to go shopping.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Transport thanks the Deputy for her comments and I will bring them to his attention. In terms of current developments, design work is ongoing on the DART+ coastal south project to plan for the enhanced DART service level to Greystones and a public consultation for this project is planned to take place shortly.

The proposal to extend the DART to Wicklow town, which is currently under consideration by the NTA would allow an early DART service from Wicklow town to Dublin city centre, significantly enhancing the train service to and from Wicklow town.

At a later stage, when the infrastructural proposals are finalised and in development, detailed train operating timetables will be prepared. This timetabling exercise will consider both interchange services where passengers will change from diesel services to DART trains at Wicklow, and the potential for some direct non-DART services running to Dublin city centre.

As previously noted, I look forward to the rollout of the E-spine bus service as part of BusConnects, connecting Bray to the city centre next month and I await the outcome of the planning application for the Bray to city centre core bus corridor. This will help to provide a sustainable, frequent and reliable bus transport service for those living in Bray and along the corridor.

In the longer term, I also look forward to the progression of a Luas extension to Bray to provide for more sustainable transport options to the town in line with our current goals. I assure the Deputy projects will be progressed in line with the requirements of the infrastructure guidelines and that the public consultation processes will be undertaken at the appropriate stages as projects are progressed.