Public Transport Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-15 ============================================================ Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a thógáil. We might be a bit like Joe Canning and Dónal Og Cusack now talking about trains and buses but the Senator is right; it is an important topic. The travelling public and the supporters of Kerry and Mayo deserve certainty and require modes of transport other than cars to go to Croke Park on Sunday week. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and funding but his remit does not cover scheduling or the monitoring of routes. Those are matters for Bus Éireann and Irish Rail. Nevertheless, I have spoken to both providers about public transport for the All-Ireland final, as I did last year when Cork were in the final. The NTA has responsibility for securing the provision of public transport passenger services. Its priority is to provide scheduled public transport services on the TFI network. It works with event organisers, operators, local authorities and An Garda Síochána to provide additional transport supports where it is possible to do so. The focus of the remit of the Department of Transport and the NTA with respect to events like the All-Ireland final is to provide additional transport to support large-scale events where required and where operators are in a position, in terms of drivers, fleet and available funding, to provide an additional service. In the case of Cork, Stephen Hackett of Irish Rail in Cork has always been very proactive. I have been assured by Irish Rail that since last weekend when the All-Ireland final between Mayo and Kerry was confirmed, work has begun to provide additional services for Mayo and Kerry supporters. In this case, for Kerry and Mayo, as the Senator rightly said, it will see a high demand for scheduled and additional services. The Senator has outlined the volume of tickets sales. This is the busiest time for scheduled intercity services anyway, given that it is peak summer time, and that is a priority. In saying that, it is also important that we look at the Monday morning services and have those trains in place, which is part of where we are going, in the scheduling of additional train services. Irish Rail will operate additional services for supporters from both counties. I thank the Senator for raising this matter and for his ongoing advocacy on behalf of the supporters of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael. The number of extra trains will be determined by available fleet, drivers and infrastructure capacity. I understand from speaking to Irish Rail that it hopes to be in a position to confirm the number of additional services later this week - I am hoping this will be today or tomorrow - and it will advise customers as soon as these services are available to book. The Senator is correct that the travelling public, the supporter, deserves to know as soon as possible in order to make plans. As Senator Kennelly outlined, it is expected that all additional trains will sell out very quickly, as was the case with the extra services operated for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. Dare I say it, even Kerry supporters travelled, and they are not used to travelling. As a Cork man, I will not go there today. In the case of our friends from Mayo, Bus Éireann operates the Expressway route 22 from Ballina to Dublin. I understand from the company that the Expressway team is currently examining whether additional services on route 22 will be added on the morning of Sunday, 26 July. The Department of Transport has ensured that significant collaboration is taking place between the National Transport Authority, NTA, and operators in order that sufficient public transport capacity is provided for major events. For example, in the last week or so, additional public transport services have been provided to service events on top of the scheduled transport services for the concerts in Malahide, the Aviva Stadium and Marley Park, as well as for the Croke Park match fixtures and events. Additional Luas tram services have been provided over that period of time and Dublin Bus provided numerous additional bus services to facilitate crowds. Additional bus services have also been added to facilitate events in Malahide Castle, the Aviva Stadium, St. Anne's Park, Marlay Park, Fairview Park and the 3 Arena. For those using toll roads, the toll booths will have extra staff. It is important that people recognise they can use their card at the tolls and should have the correct change if using cash. Using a toll tag also allows drivers to pass through the tolls quicker. I wish both teams well on Sunday week, and I wish Limerick and Galway well this Sunday. I hope all the travelling public have a safe journey to and from the match. Go n-éirí leo go léir. --- 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/2026-07-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:16+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-15