Public Transport Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-21 ============================================================ Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tóg go bog é liom anois. Beidh go leor uimhreacha á liostáil agam. Since being elected to Seanad Éireann, I have been contacted by numerous people from all walks of life expressing their dissatisfaction with the level of public transport available in Tubbercurry in south Sligo. Leaving aside the matter of the full reinstatement of the western rail corridor, which I know the Minister of State, as a west of Ireland man, supports, including bringing it right up to Sligo, the level of public transport offered to Sligo's second town is woeful. I am not exaggerating when I say that. The main service on offer is the Bus Éireann No. 64 Expressway, which connects Derry to Galway, via Donegal, Sligo and Knock Airport. It is a fantastic service and is usually very reliable. It is delivered by professional and really friendly drivers seven times a day. It is supplemented by the 964 bus, operated twice a day by Feda O'Donnell Coaches. There are also two other buses that come once a week but I am not going to get into that now. The 2022 census shows that Tubbercurry has a population of 2,307 people, which is about 10% of the population of Sligo town. It is considerably larger than the population of Strandhill, Collooney, and Ballisadare, which are the next largest towns. Tubbercurry's population has increased by a staggering 90% since 2002 and over 16% between the census of 2016 and 2022. By way of comparison, there are 31 buses running on the S2 route between Strandhill and Rosses' Point, via Sligo. That route is approximately 20 km long. I live on that route and it is fantastic to have that service. At 34 km, which is only 14 km longer than the S2 route, Sligo to Tubbercurry should be an easy commute on public transport. A large number of people living in Tubbercurry work in Sligo town, but the No. 64 is an intercity bus rather than a commuter bus. A standard Bus Éireann coach seats between 50 and 55 passengers and consequently there are very few seats available for commuters wishing to travel daily between Tubbercurry and Sligo. I point out that this should be a public service obligation, PSO, route. That is what I want and it is the whole point of my Commencement matter. I also bring up the issue of price. A full adult fare from Rosses' Point to Strandhill on the S2 is €2, and is even less with a Leap card. However, the full adult fare from Tubbercurry to Sligo is €15. Tubbercurry does not have any other available option besides this intercity bus. It is not a commuter bus. Tubbercurry and the surrounding hinterland has no commuter bus and this needs to be addressed. The 64 is the only publicly owned public transport link between Tubbercurry and Sligo and it must be retained. I am bringing this up because it was announced by Bus Éireann that it was going to scrap the No. 52 Expressway service, which serves communities in Mayo and Galway, which are our border counties. That is what has raised this fear. I have been contacted by loads of people about this because they rely so heavily on this sole bus. Can we get confirmation from Bus Éireann that this service will not be withdrawn? In the case of the 52 bus, the NTA made a determination that the public service obligation did exist and that the route should be retained, which is brilliant. The key consideration of this determination was that if the 52 bus were to be withdrawn, the number of available journeys in each direction would drop from 11 per day to just five per day. Were the 64 bus to be withdrawn, the consequences would be worse, and an aggregate of nine services per day would plummet to just two, and they are provided by a private service, Feda O'Donnell. Based on the Government's transport policy of avoid, shift and improve, by which we are trying to get people off roads, out of their cars and onto public transport, it is so important this route is retained and I want to get confirmation of that. --- 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/2026-05-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-21