An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23
============================================================

Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I congratulate the Leader on his appointment. I am sure that it is a really proud day for his family, who are in the Gallery. He has a long tradition of public service in his family and I am sure that his late mum is very proud watching him today. I also want to acknowledge Scott Ahearn in the Gallery. I knew Scott through student politics back in the day. I would say that the Leader has been involved in politics at all levels in Ireland at this point and I wish him well in his role. I congratulate Senator Cathal Byrne as well on his appointment as Whip today.
Cork public transport is what I want to discuss. We need to have a discussion in this Chamber on it specifically. I say that because Cork is widely regarded as the fastest growing city in Ireland. The population of Cork is expected to rise by between 50% and 60% by 2040. For that reason, we need to prioritise investment and increase the pace of public transport development within the city. We have serious issues in the city in terms of bus reliability - buses not arriving on time and ghost buses disappearing - and the fact that we do not have a modern ticketing system. People cannot just tap on and tap off the bus. That is ridiculous in a modern city. There are well-known routes that are constantly delayed, namely, the 215, the 220, the 214 and the 208. These buses need to be reviewed.
We need our Luas. In the Labour Party, we have called for shovels in the ground by 2030, but we need to make sure that it is delivered on time and on budget for the people of Cork. For too long, we have been left behind. At times, I become sick and tired of hearing consistently about public transport in Dublin when Cork is the fastest growing city. We need real action in relation to it. I would dedicate a specific time slot, if possible, in the Seanad to discuss public transport issues within Cork, which is the second city but, of course, the real capital.

---

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/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23