The only public transport for most of west Wicklow to Dublin is the No. 132 bus, which travels only four times daily, with the last bus leaving Baltinglass at 3 p.m. and the last leaving Dublin at 5.30 p.m. Last April, when I met the NTA I was told that a very significantly increased service would be put in place later in April but nothing has happened since. The NTA is now saying that this cannot progress as the Department of Transport has placed a hold on uncommitted expenditure for new public transport services. Can this issue be resolved? Similarly, I want to raise the issue of two Local Links that have been promised and are overdue. The Bray to Glendalough route was promised for September. The provider is ready but there is still not start date. The same applies to the proposed route from Knockananna to Carlow.

There has been fairly significant expansion in the rural transport programme from 2022 to 2025. Some €84 million has been invested in the rural transport programme, and €116 million has been allocated to regular rural services and almost €40 million has been allocated to new services, including Connecting Ireland, new town services and BusConnects. In Carlow, Kilkenny and Wicklow, funding increased by 46% between 2023 and 2024 to more than €3.5 million. The passenger numbers on these routes in counties Carlow, Kilkenny and Wicklow increased by 61% from 2023 to 2024. I will talk to the Minister in respect of the issue the Deputy raised. Obviously, all Ministers have to operate within the budgets allocated to them.