Public Transport Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-19 ============================================================ Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), Administrative Panel I also welcome our guests and I hope they have an enjoyable and interesting day in Leinster House. I thank the Minister of State for her response and I am absolutely clear that the Minister has responsibility for policy and funding, which I would argue are the most important parts, and that the NTA has to provide the service. To be fair, I thank the NTA for its regular updates and the opportunity to engage with it always. In any year it has a number of events in Buswells Hotel and Richard Kelly is the Oireachtas liaison person. I absolutely welcome both free travel for all children up to the age of nine and the young adult card. The companion pass for anybody who has free transport must also be welcomed. The Minister of State mentioned the funding that has been allocated and the increase in Kildare and south County Dublin. The advances we have in terms of the increased capacity on the 126 route, the new 888 service, the 892 route and the plans to extend to Suncroft are incredibly welcome. The Minister of State made the case very eloquently for a town bus and why any of us would need to have one. I am delighted for the 11 towns that have them, as they are needed, and I am delighted for the two towns that will have them. Those towns whose populations have increased in a large way, such as Newbridge, absolutely should be at the top of the list in terms of the new planning. The Minister of State mentioned the TFI Anseo app, which is being piloted. It is great but it heralds another problem. I mentioned the 888 route and there is a problem because there can be 3 km or 4 km between stops and it is very difficult for those who are not driving to be able to access it. We need proper bus stops, safe places to pull in and, may I add, smaller buses. Part of the problem is that too many Rural Link buses are too large and it is difficult for them to pull over safely. I thank the Minister of State for her response. I want her to bring the message back to the Minister that Newbridge needs to be prioritised at this time in the upcoming plans. I am sure he will then bring it to the NTA. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-19