Bus Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-16
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

I thank the Senator for her question. Let us see what answer I can provide for her. On behalf of the Minister for Transport, I thank Senator Ryan for the opportunity to discuss BusConnects in Limerick. I will also use the opportunity to highlight sustainable mobility developments in Leitrim - I am sorry, I must have been thinking of my own constituency - in Limerick more generally.
The Limerick-Shannon metropolitan area transport strategy was developed by the NTA to deliver an accessible, integrated transport network that enables the sustainable growth of Limerick up to 2040. This includes the development of the Limerick BusConnects programme. Good progress has been made in delivering the strategy, including BusConnects Limerick. In 2023, the NTA carried out an extensive review of the Limerick bus network. This review was conducted in collaboration with Limerick City and County Council, Clare County Council and Bus Éireann, and was supported by the specialised expertise of transport system designers Jarrett Walker and Associates. Following public consultation, the NTA published its final new bus network for Limerick in December 2023. The redesign of the bus network is one of the nine key elements of BusConnects Limerick that aim to transform the city’s bus system, making public transport more useful to more people. The new bus network will enable more people to avail of public transport, resulting in increased access to a greater number of schools and workplaces across Limerick City. Overall, 41% of residents will live within 400 m of a high-frequency bus route running every 15 minutes or better. Limerick is the first city in Ireland with a fully electrified bus service, with two phases of charger installation works having come on stream at Roxboro bus depot during 2024 and 61 zero-emission buses in active passenger service today.
Regarding future phases of BusConnects Limerick, and the BusConnects programme across the cities more generally, the NTA will publish its detailed national development plan, NDP, implementation plan later this year, which will set out the elements of the programme to be progressed in the coming years within available funding to 2030. This follows on from the publication of the NDP sectoral investment plan by the Department of Transport last November and the publication of the NDP review last July.
In addition to bus-based improvements, the Limerick-Shannon metropolitan area transport strategy also recommends a number of improvements to rail infrastructure, including a new rail station at Moyross. Planning permission for this station was received from Limerick City and County Council in November 2025, with procurement preparation now under way. Other rail interventions include increasing the frequency of services on the Ballybrophy line to up to two trains per hour, double-tracking of the line from Limerick Junction to Colbert Station and the upgrading of Colbert Station, which was successfully completed in November 2024.
The public is now benefiting from these improved facilities, including the new ticket offices, toilets, bus concourse, set-down area and car park. The NDP sectoral plan also allocates funding for the delivery of a number of priority rail projects by 2030 as identified by the rail project prioritisation strategy published last December with the assistance of the European Investment Bank.

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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/2026-07-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-16