Public Transport and Fare Increases: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Darren O'Rourke (SF), Meath East

Haveyouseenthe103.ie is a community website set up a few weeks ago to track the failings of the 103, 103X and 105X bus services from Ratoath and Ashbourne to Dublin. I have the report from the first few weeks and it paints a damning picture. This is not just about delays; it is about a system failing the people who depend on it. Now the Minister wants to hike up fares for the privilege of this frustration. From 2 to 28 September, there were 275 community reports and 155 officially cancelled trips. A quarter of all notifications of cancellations arrived too late to be useful, very many of them after the bus was due to arrive. Commuters checking the Bus Éireann website would have missed 84 cancellations, while those checking the app would have missed 47. One feed is never enough. This is communications failure on top of service delivery failure. Meanwhile, more than 100 full buses passed stops, leaving passengers behind. This accounted for 28% of community reports, 27 at Ashbourne Community School alone. That school is far from the last pick-up point. Ghost buses that were shown and that then vanished accounted for 92 reports. The chain of accountability from the Minister to the Department to the NTA to Bus Éireann is like the 103 - it is broken. Someone must answer and the Minister is the one charged with responsibility and authority. It is clear from the data that we need extra capacity at the morning peak and we need answers on why the live feed shows buses that never come. More than anything, we need a bus service that is fit for purpose.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29