Bus Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central

Just to let the Minister of State know, the fare hike came into Cork in July. What that means for adults going to work, college or hospital appointments is an extra €240 a year. On top of that now we will see the price go up for the train. If you get the train or the bus you are going to see your fares going up. Has the Minister of State conducted any tests to see if people can afford to absorb these fare hikes? People are telling me they are being priced out. He talks about the 90-minute fare but we have people who could be waiting an hour for the bus. That would not be unusual. Expecting the 90-minute fare to work is not feasible with the bus service we currently have in Cork. Not one extra bus route has been delivered in Cork in 2026 and at the same time the bus fares are being hiked up. How can that be justified? The app is not working. The NTA has admitted that. I have met the authority on a number of occasions. People are standing at bus stops looking at signs and the app is not working. They are looking at their phones to see when the next bus is and the bus disappears. How can that be right? How can the Government be charging people extra for that? The only thing we are getting from BusConnects is announcements. We are not getting buses and we are not getting new bus services.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24