A protest organized by the Glasnevin Bus Action Group was held outside Leinster house at 1 pm yesterday, with residents protesting the implementation of BusConnects Phase 7, which many residents say has left them “disconnected”, and with a worse service than previous.
This marks the 5th protest of such a nature held in the past three weeks in the capital, with previous protests held by residents of Inchicore (28th November) Chapelizod (29th November), Finglas (8th December) and Palmerstown (13th December).
As protest action was unfolding outside, inside Seanad Éireann, Senator Evanne Ní Chuilinn raised a commencement matter, asking the Minister for Transport regarding continued disruptions in public transport services to Chapelizod, Islandbridge and Palmerstown, with route 80 being introduced as part of BusConnects Phase 7.
This marked the fourth occasion that the contentious bus route has been discussed in Oireachtas chambers.
Residents of the above communities have been reported being left “stranded” for periods of over 90 minutes in the city centre, with no alternative public transport modalities back to this part of west Dublin, located 5.9km from O’Connell Bridge.
Answering the commencement matter, Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Marie Harkin TD, referenced the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) statement dated 28th November 2025, when the NTA announced an amendment to Route 80.
The proposed revised route will “will run along the current 80 route as far as Bridge St, but will continue along the north quays to Eden Quay and then northward through the city centre to Clontarf.”
This change has been widely rejected by residents of Chapelizod, Palmerstown and Islandbridge – who state that it would not serve their needs, and would turn what at present is an 18km route from Liffey Valley to Palmerston Park into a 24km route to Clontarf, further increasing the opportunity for delays and cancellations.
Residents have also reported that this change will inevitably serve the NTA, rather than communities themselves, who use “number of kilometres scheduled to be driven” as the headline key performance indicator for BusConnects.
Senator Ní Chuilinn has called the repeating of this statement “stonewalling” of public representatives by the NTA.
Speaking in Seanad Éireann, she stated: “You’ve literally just read word for word what was said by a minister in the Dáil last week week in response to Deputy Cummins’ questions around the 80. Which means the feedback the NTA say they want, and the fix they say they want to identify, and the implementation they’d like to hear from public reps; I mean, if that’s not stonewalling, I don’t know what is. It’s literally word for word, right down to the turn of phrase – “that being said” in the second paragraph. […] There’s a reason why I’m bringing it up again today, it’s because it hasn’t gone away ”.
In this statement, Senator Ní Chuilinn is referencing the response given to Jen Cummins TD on 11th of December 2025, when she raised a Topical Issue in Dáil Éireann surrounding route 80, which was answered by Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and at the Department of Transport, Jerry Buttimer TD.5
The communications strategy at the National Transport Authority surrounding BusConnects has been called into question in recent weeks. Speaking to the Irish Independent on Wednesday, 10th of December, Cllr. Frank Fahy in Galway has stated: “We sat here for an hour and a half and asked questions. We haven’t received responses.”
At a meeting of South Dublin County Council on 25th November 2025, Cllr. Alan Hayes stated that the “Issues around the 80, and the upcoming disruption in Chapelizod, will for a long time, […] will be the epitome of issues around BusConnects”.
At a meeting of the Dublin City Council South East Area Committee on 8th December, Cllr. Carolyn Moore has stated that the experience of councillors during engagements with the NTA about services in Kimmage can be described as “dismissive [of concerns] when they were raised”.
Other communities around Dublin to have raised concerns in the media about the implementation of BusConnects in recent weeks include Kiltiernan, Adamstown, Tallaght.
Questions have also been raised surrounding data integrity and transparency at the NTA. In a statement to RTÉ on 28th of Novemeber, referencing Route 80, the NTA have stated that “route 80 got off to a rocky start” and “less than 2% of services [were] cancelled over the first three weeks of November.”12 Open-source data published by the NTA has revealed that this figure, in fact, stands at 8.9% and has continually worsened – peaking at 19.3% of cancellations on 11th December 2025.
At time of writing, the statement by the NTA remains uncorrected.
Elsewhere, Cllr. Pierce Dargan of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council spoke to Dublin’s Q102 radio on 1st of December 2025, calling on the NTA to publish the data they use to design new bus routes and determine service frequencies.
Speaking in the Dáil on 2nd of December 2025, Senator Ní Chuilinn has called into question the NTA’s communication strategy and has urged the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD to intervene:
“Some €4 billion is being spent on the BusConnects project. Bus routes have been cancelled without alternatives being put in place. The NTA has not been answering representations from councillors, TDs or my office. An emergency meeting was called last week for representatives, but that was in response to media coverage as opposed to representations that had been made.
I am not sure where the lack of communication is. I would like the Minister to come in and have a discussion about the NTA and what the immediate plans are. An interim bus is needed for Chapelizod, Palmerstown and Islandbridge to get into town.” 2
Minister O’Brien has yet to answer a Topical Issue or Commencement Matter in the Oireachtas relating to BusConnects Phase 7.
In a written answer submitted in response to Deputy Rory Hearne’s question in Dáil Éireann, Minister O’Brien has stated that in 2025, he has held four meetings with the NTA – an introductory meeting in February, a Public Transport Matters meeting in September, A photocall in November and a Rail meeting in December.14
Protests regarding the implementation of BusConnects across Dublin are set to continue.
With the NTA’s communication strategy to elected representatives being called into question nationally, concerns mounting regarding data integrity and transparency at the NTA and increasing amounts of public funds being spent on the NTA’s activities – the public must expect more from the Government.
The ongoing BusConnects dispute remains a key indicator of the capital’s severely strained transportation system, with congestion on the M50, taxi driver strike action against Uber, breakdown of the Luas Green Line, construction delays to Luas Glasnevin and DART South-West and legal challenges to Metrolink all receiving national media attention within the past month.