Delay in installing bus charging points forces transfer of over 100 buses from Limerick to Cork

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said: 'The government haven’t bought a new diesel-only bus since 2019. That would be fine if there was somewhere to charge electric buses. There isn’t.'

A spokesperson for the National Transport Authority said that Cork’s Capwell bus depot was too busy to allow depot electrification works to take place. Picture: Chani Anderson

Cork has received 68 buses from Limerick since 2020, and is set to receive 42 more, as delays to electric charging infrastructure prevent the use of new buses in the city.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has been moving towards purchasing only electric buses in the last six years, but Cork has no charging infrastructure, so cannot use these.

The NTA has confirmed that a total of 19 plug-in hybrid double-deck buses were “cascaded” from Limerick to Cork in 2025 and to date in 2026.

In 2020, Cork got eight buses from Limerick, followed by 21 in 2021, three in 2022, none in 2023, and 17 in 2024, it was reported in April last year.

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A spokesperson for the NTA said at the time that Cork’s Capwell bus depot was too busy to allow depot electrification works to take place.

Instead, a temporary bus depot is being developed which will allow buses to move out of Capwell so it can be electrified, and the spokesperson said at the time that this depot was “on course to be completed in Q1, 2026”.

The depot on the former Tata Steel facility within the Port of Cork’s Tivoli Industrial Estate, can only be used until the end of 2030. It was originally set to be up and running in the first half of 2025, before a target completion date of March 2026 was set in January 2025.

Last December, the NTA said “some delays” had been experienced, but that it was anticipated the depot would become operational in April 2026. The costs have also increased during this time, from €8m in original media reports in 2023 to €17m in 2025.

Last month, a Bus Éireann spokesperson said it anticipates Tivoli will become operational “in the coming months”, but that no estimated completion date was available.

Bus transfers

Limerick’s bus depot was electrified by 2024, and the city has been using electric buses since then. A further 42 hybrid buses are planned to be sent to Cork by the end of 2027, the NTA said.

The information was provided to Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould who questioned the amount of second-hand buses transferred.

The NTA pushed back on the “second-hand” label, saying: “These modern, attractive and low-emission buses were first introduced into passenger service as recently as 2022 and offer high levels of passenger comfort and accessibility.

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“The opening of Tivoli temporary bus depot (doubling bus depot capacity in Cork) and the forthcoming electrification of Capwell bus depot will thereafter enable new battery-electric buses to be allocated to Cork.” 

Mr Gould expressed concern that Cork City bus delays were worsened by the fact that “we’re relying on hand-me-down buses".

He said: “The government haven’t bought a new diesel-only bus since 2019. That would be fine if there was somewhere to charge electric buses. There isn’t. We were told that Tivoli would be open by the start of this year. It’s now June and we still don’t have an opening date.”