BusConnects Cork spend hits 'staggering' €90m 

The spend on BusConnects Cork has risen to €90m, before any planning applications for the scheme have been submitted.

Over €50m of the total cost, provided to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee by the National Transport Authority (NTA), is for the development of 11 sustainable transport corridors.

These have been assembled into three scheme packages (Cork City North, South-West, and South-East) for planning consent purposes and are intended to deliver about 90km of bus priority facilities across Cork city.

The NTA previously told The Echo in 2024 that planning applications would be submitted on a phased basis from Q1 2025.

However, none have been submitted yet.

 The NTA told the committee they are still awaiting government approval for new laws to give “the necessary legislative powers to submit the planning consent applications”.

The NTA said the majority of the sustainable transport corridors spend, €43.4m, has gone towards planning and design: “Covering scheme development, engineering design, environmental assessment, and supporting technical services to progress the three scheme bundles through planning and statutory processes”.

The cost includes €24m on three design schemes; €15.4m on environmental impact assessments; €2.8m on public consultation, communications, and advertising; and €1.6m on resources, legal fees, offices, and consultancy costs.

To date, €14.8m has been spent on the scheme during 2026. The final total for the year looks set to decrease from 2025 and 2024, when €30.7m and €27.8m, respectively, was spent, while €13.2m was spent in 2023, and below €2m the previous two years.

Support costs 

Across the six years, as well as €50.2m on corridors, €23.7m was spent on depots, €7.1m on bus stops and shelters, €6m on network redesign, and €3m on programme support costs.

Some 67 new bus stops were rolled out by the NTA at the start of this month, while a temporary bus depot at Tivoli — built so buses can move out of Capwell to allow for electrification — started operating in August after more than a year of delays.

Charging points at the Capwell depot are now not due until 2028, meaning Cork will not have electric buses until then.

Cork Fianna Fáil TD Seamus McGrath, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee, said: “€90m spent on Cork BusConnects prior to the construction of the 11 sustainable transport corridors and even before the planning application is lodged is a staggering amount of public money.

“The pre-construction and pre-implementation phase spending levels are eye-watering, and this needs to be scrutinised further.

“There is a limited breakdown of the costs incurred, which I am not satisfied with,” he said, adding that the PAC has sought a more detailed breakdown.