National Transport Authority
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-29
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank Senator Kyne for the question. The official reply raises a number of issues in relation to regional representation and the money and work that has been done by the NTA in Galway and its hinterland. The Government and the Minister are responsible for the policy and the overall funding but it is the NTA that delivers, plans and develops it in line with the statutory responsibility for providing transport. There are a number of issues on which it is working with Galway city and county councils in terms of developing funding. The Senator's overall point relates to its national remit and the fact that its national office is in Dublin, in the context of the search for solutions and good transport initiatives throughout the country. In particular, Senator Kyne speaks about Galway, which is one of the fastest growing cities and communities in the country.
We look at the information that is provided at local level, both to Oireachtas Members and at local authority level. They need to have proper engagement with the local authority to address the challenges on the ground because Oireachtas Members and members of local authorities are constantly engaged with the resident communities and indeed with their own communities as well. They know the challenges. Clearly, there is a deficit in relation to delivery. Local knowledge is very much to the fore and solutions can be found very quickly. However, they are then engaging with an office that does not have the detailed information in relation to it. It is a sound suggestion in terms of having proper engagement with local authorities and the NTA. It is also important as Ireland is developing and has developed over the past while. The development of the regions will be a key, massive component of how we deliver. As Galway has seen huge development over the past while, which will continue into the future, it is important that we engage and use the expertise of members of the local authority and Members of the Oireachtas to ensure early engagement in relation to challenges being faced in the community right across Galway city and county.
I will certainly bring the proposal Senator Kyne put before me to both the Department of Transport and the NTA. If we are to have balanced regional development, we must make sure the information that is readily available locally is fed into national policy. As we have seen in many policies, if it comes from the ground up it is always better received locally and easier to implement. The challenges and the shortcomings are there. I take the point the Senator has raised in relation to Galway city and county. I will engage with the NTA and the Department of Transport to ensure we can look at what he is proposing in Seanad Éireann today. It is a sound and sensible suggestion. In the official response, we have a number of issues in relation to Galway and the development of infrastructure right across Galway, but the key point is that there is better engagement locally with Oireachtas Members, local authorities, local authority engineers and the communities so that we can deliver the best possible results in terms of transport infrastructure throughout Galway city and county.

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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/2026-04-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-29