Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Did 21 speak? I thank them all.
Deputy McGrath began on Cork BusConnects. I am familiar with it and may have been responsible for some of the delays in terms of the consultation required with residents and communities. The initial preferred routes that the NTA produced created huge anxiety and stress for many families across the board and we all had to intervene to try to get common sense. Then, lo and behold, there were changed routes. There is an issue with how BusConnects does that. I have had that issue with BusConnects. Very often in the beginning of the process, you get the worst case scenario put out there. People get really stressed and then, lo and behold, a new solution is arrived at. One wonders whether the new solution was in the bottom drawer all along. I do not want to be too unreasonable but as public representatives, I think we have all experienced that. Sometimes, there is no need to create all that stress.
Legislative capacity has now been given to the NTA to be the body with overall responsibility for the roll-out of BusConnects in Cork. It is making progress, at long last. To be fair, there was a lot of consultation and many residents' organisations and communities had issues with residential amenities, potential CPOs, all of that. There is an evaluation to be done and lessons to be learned from how that happened. However, I take the Deputy's point. It was 2021 and it is now 2026.
Deputy McCormack spoke of Uisce Éireann, accountability and so on. There is an issue there and many public representatives are not happy with the level of accountability of Uisce Éireann.
It is neither a semi-State in terms of Dáil questions and so on, but there needs to be a quicker response to public representatives, particularly Members of Dáil Éireann, who are elected by the people, vote money in respect of Uisce Éireann and need a more simplified and straightforward avenue of communication on various projects and issues, and also on the acceleration of projects. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has spoken to the Deputy. There has been a lot of progress made on some of the big projects, but we need to get more on the towns-based ones in terms of wastewater treatment solutions, and even more than that.
In response to Deputy Shane Moynihan, I am fully behind DART+ South West. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I got very positive feedback that it would be accelerated beyond what was originally given, and I am confident that funding will be found. My view is that the funding will be there to enable DART+ South West to happen because a lot of housing will depend on it as well. All of the development plans along that route envisage very substantial housing projects but they cannot happen if DART+ South West does not happen, so I think it will happen. In the interim, I hear what the Deputy is saying in respect of bus services being advanced.
In response to Deputy Ó Murchú on Scoil Bhríde, he is persistent. I will talk to the Minister for education. There is a broader issue around capital, but I will raise specific schools with the Minister. The Deputy has raised that school with me and I will talk to the Minister for education in respect of that.
The Deputy said there was an Uisce Éireann connection to it-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26