Council demands answers over inadequate Cork bus services

The Bus Station at Parnell Place, Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

The chief executive of Cork County Council has said she will seek a meeting with senior representatives of Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority (NTA) following a plethora of complaints from councillors about inadequate public transport services across the county.

The issue was raied by Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Donovan, who kicked off a debate when he highlighted poor bus services in Carrigaline and Crosshaven.

He said buses serving Crosshaven often fail to arrive at all.

Mr Donovan said it is totally unacceptable that key towns and villages are suffering with congestion because if extra buses were added, it could help to tackle this issue.

East Cork-based Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Mulcahy said concerns about inadequate services had been repeatedly raised by elected members in East Cork, while requests for NTA officials to attend council meetings had gone unanswered.

He claimed commuters making the 50km trip from Youghal to Cork city can now face journey times of almost two hours during peak morning periods and said improved bus services could help reduce the number of cars on the road.

Mr Mulcahy also said students in Midleton are regularly being left behind because of there are not enough spaces on the buses provided. 

He noted that calls for a dedicated town bus service for Midleton had yet to yield results.

Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty said some parts of East Cork still had no public transport service at all, while others were poorly served.

"There are pockets in East Cork with no service at all and others that are poor," he said. "It worries me that there have been only four new Local Link routes established across the country in the first six months of this year."

Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden said many parts of North Cork are not serviced at all.

"The whole thing needs to be reviewed," he said.

Social Democrats councillor Ann Bambury said unreliable public bus services were causing frustration for commuters in West Cork.

She questioned whether the NTA had ever penalised operators for poor punctuality. “The NTA is supposed to monitor punctuality. I wonder have they ever penalised Bus Éireann. Our private providers are giving us better options. Only for West Cork Connect, we’d be in a terrible state,” she said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Sheila O'Callaghan complained that Upper Glanmire has no service but it does have a bus stop.

"We were guaranteed twice in 2025 that the service was coming, but it hasn't," she said, adding that services to Glenville and Carrignavar were also poor.

Cobh-based Fine Gael councillor Sinéad Sheppard said rapid housing growth was not being matched by investment in public transport.

“We’re building houses everywhere and not doing enough to support people in towns and villages with no proper bus services. I find engagement with NTA shocking. They’re bad at replying to emails and phones calls. I’m constantly getting no response,” she said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Ann Marie Ahern said she emails to the NTA on issues every six months and also doesn’t get any replies.

Social Democrats councillor Eamonn Horgan said: "Better public transport is the only way to reduce traffic on our congested roads."

Council chief executive Moira Murrell said she had recently met the board of Bus Éireann during members' visit to Cork and had raised issues including service reliability and population growth.

The mayor of Co Cork, Fianna Fail councillor Bernard Moynihan, said there was unanimous cross-party support for seeking a meeting with both Bus Éireann and the NTA, noting that the transport authority ultimately oversees bus services.

Ms Murrell said she would seek engagement with both organisations.