NTA “not listening” to Dublin 15 councillors, meeting told

Local councillors have raised concerns about the deteriorating public transport in the Dublin 15 area.

Councillors from Blanchardstown, Castleknock and Ongar all expressed frustration that, despite Dublin 15 being served by a Taoiseach and two government ministers in the last Dáil term, there were no signs of material improvements for Dublin 15 residents’ public transport situation.

Speaking at this month’s Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart/Castleknock/Ongar Area Committee, councillors John Burtchaell (Solidarity), John Walsh (Labour) and Angela Donnelly (Sinn Féin) all discussed the public transport issues that they have been hearing from constituents. 

Councillor Burtchaell raised the issue of inadequate bus services in Tyrellstown and Hollystown, noting that “ghost buses” are a frequent occurrence in the area, along with overcrowding on buses.

He said that an improvement to bus services was needed.

“Tyrellstown and Hollystown are perhaps the most badly-served of all the areas situated in the outer North-West area of the city; we are somewhat isolated out there,” he told the meeting.

“The 238 is notorious for ghost buses,” he said, and that new areas such as Kilmartin have no bus routes.

“We need to build communities, and that involves more than just housing; transport is a key factor in livable communities. For anything living in Kilmartin, it is a substantial walk just to get the bus.”

Burtchaell relayed correspondence he had with a constituent who is employed in shift work at Dublin Port and said, “essentially, she is on an expensive odyssey to get into work every day.”

“She is trying to get the N4 bus at 5am every morning, and none of the connecting buses start in time, such as the 40D or the 40E, so she is forced to get a taxi, hoping that the N4 arrives at the scheduled time, and makes her way to Dublin Port.”

“This isn’t exceptional; these are the trials and tribulations that our public transport system imposes on people, and these are the obstacles we place on people,” he told the meeting.

The Solidarity councillor told the woman is at risk of losing her job at Dublin Port because she is late so often because of the poor public transport in Dublin 15.

“Government policy, and the lack of infrastructure investment, throws these kinds of issues up for people,” he said.

Sinn Féin councillor Breda Hanaphy said that Burtchaell’s motion was “excellent,” and was a great example of how badly served people are in the very farthest edges of West Dublin. 

“You might as well say it’s (public transport) is non-existent up there in Tyrrelstown and Hollystown,” she said.

“We all know people who have missed school, college, and hospital appointments because of the lack of public transport,” she said.

Councillors from Fianna Fáil agreed that, despite their party being the main party in the current coalition and the area being represented by local Minister Jack Chambers at the Cabinet table, Dublin 15 has been left behind in terms of public transport.

Fianna Fáil councillor JK Onwumereh said it is “quite sad” that Tyrrelstown and Hollystown have been “left behind” and that “something needs to be done.”

“Something even as simple as going to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre is a big challenge for residents living in that area.”

He said that transportation to the city centre itself is poor, and said that while it’s all well and good for the government to promote the idea of active travel and getting cars off the road, public transport had to be improved first.

“The response we often get from the NTA is not satisfactory; we need to put a little bit more investment to address this issue,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Tom Kitt said that the NTA is “not listening to people in this area; by writing to them (the NTA) we’ll get the same response. We have to go higher and get the Minister for Transport involved.”

“It’s not my area, but I know several people who bought houses in Kilmartin, people with young families and it (the public transport situation) is an insult to them.”

The Ongar councillor noted a situation where a woman has to walk nearly a mile and a half to get to work in the morning, and said, “it’s not on for this kind of thing to be happening in Dublin.”

Councillor Walsh concurred that Tyrrelstown and Hollystown are “badly served,” by public transport and said that despite the focus on public transport during the last government, Dublin 15 did not receive the benefit of it, with Tyrrelstown and Hollystown, in particular, examples of what he called a “public transport desert.”

Walsh himself raised the issue of traffic in the Castleknock area, and called for a five-year study into traffic in the area in light of recent residential developments and a population increase.

He said that with the Dart+ West project picking up steam, along with recent housing developments, the NTA should provide a model of just how heavy traffic has gotten in Castleknock over the last 5 years.

“There is no overall analysis, and the council doesn’t have these figures, as I understand it; we have no overall analysis of traffic patterns and public transport needs in the areas. As a councillor, I find out about traffic patterns, in-depth, from analysis that is done for individual housing developments. That may be fine for an individual development, but it’s always incomplete, and it lacks context for the area.”

Walsh called on the NTA to either share their data with Fingal County Council, or for the NTA themselves to commission a report into traffic patterns in the area, which will then, in turn, inform the council in their decision-making processes.

“While DART+ West has been approved, and that’s great, that’s still five years away, but we are in danger of neglecting our bus services; currently, our bus services in many areas of Dublin 15 are sub-standard,” pointing to frequent “ghost buses” on the 37 route.

The Labour councillor noted that the delayed rollout of BusConnects for Blanchardstown, due to a judicial review, is possibly having a knock-on effect for public transport across Dublin 15 as a whole.

“As a starting point, we need detailed, reliable data on traffic flows and public transport needs in the area. This will help reinforce the case to upgrade bus services in the area.”

Sinn Féin councillor Angela Donnelly told the meeting about how ghost buses are having an adverse impact on commuters in Ireland’s winter conditions.

“One guy said he waited for 15 to 20 minutes in the freezing cold for the 70 bus, only for the bus to be a no-show, he had to take a taxi at a cost of €35; in the case of another woman, the bus frequently does not arrive and it has been at the terminal and is then sent onto another bus route, leaving the children standing in the cold.”

Donnelly relayed that the woman’s son is often off sick from school as a result of standing in the rain, waiting for a bus that never arrives.

The Ongar councillor noted that over the course of the meeting on January 13, she received correspondence from the NTA apologising for the delay in the response as they received a record number of queries from TDs over the course of 2025, which caused a delay in replies.

Donnelly said a common excuse from the NTA was a shortage of drivers, which prevents buses from operating at the capacity or standard they are supposed to operate at.