Fines Administration
Dail Éireann — 2023-05-04
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Martin Browne (SF), Tipperary

When will the design stage finish? We were told recently that funding depends on the design stage. When did the issues with the suitability of the site first emerge? Will reports that back up the HSE's decision that the St. Patrick's site is too small be provided? Do they even exist? How much has been spent on the preliminary stages of St. Patrick's to date? How far along are negotiations on the greenfield site? Can any indication be given to us as to how close to the town the greenfield site is? Will the Minister of State give a commitment that other services such as the assessment unit and rehabilitation services are not lost in a couple of months' time?
That is why we have the system of regulation and fines and of holding those companies to account. Despite all these problems, particularly regarding the difficulty in getting drivers, what we have seen in the past year is public transport numbers increase very significantly, beyond what they were before Covid. That is unusual by international comparison; most other countries have not seen that. I believe that the combination of the 20% and 60% reductions in fares and some of the priority measures we are only starting to put in place is starting to see these bus services really increase and expand.
We have a lot of work to do. It is critical that we get the BusConnects project through planning and that we start delivering it and, in the interim, look at other measures in Dublin city centre and elsewhere where we can reallocate road space in order that the buses get through. The best way of solving this problem is not just by having as many drivers as we can get but also by making sure the buses are not stuck in traffic and that is what we are committing to do.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-05-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-05-04