Wicklow-Wexford Social Democrats call for significant improvements to rural transport

Social Democrats in the new Wicklow-Wexford Dáil constituency have called for substantial improvements to the country’s rural public transport structure in a motion submitted to the party’s annual conference next month…

“While areas such as west Wicklow, rural Wexford and many coastal and upland villages are experiencing population growth, new economic activity, and increased housing demand, public transport has not kept pace,” the motion states.

“Local residents continue to face limited bus services, poor connectivity to larger towns and inadequate basic transport infrastructure. These shortcomings affect commuters, students, older people, and new families alike.”

The motion calls for the full integration of all rural public transport, “so that local buses connect to express buses and trains in such a way to permit commuters to travel to and from towns and cities, shoppers to travel to commercial centres, and consumers to reach and return from entertainment centres.”

It further calls for vital transport arteries such as the Dublin-Wexford route that passes through Wicklow Town, Arklow and Gorey to receive adequate public funding, and for the extension of the Local Link network both in terms of the number of routes and the frequency of buses.

Brian Fennell, chair of the Wicklow-Wexford branch Social Democrats, said that social and economic changes were transforming life in rural areas, but that the public transport system was lagging behind:

“We urgently need integrated, joined-up thinking about rural transport and not the disjointed, inadequate system that we have at the moment. Government policies need to change radically to meet the needs of residents, and increased funding needs to follow as well.”