New bus service for local villages

Bus Éireann remains committed to rolling out a new route between Birdhill and Borrisokane, which it expects will be up and running by the end of the year.

The 323 bus service is to be extended to connect Limerick with Birdhill and the lakeside settlements of Ballina, Portroe and Newtown before continuing on to Nenagh, Borrisokane, Ardcroney and Birr. A further enhancement of Route 345 on the other side of the lake between Scariff, Killaloe and Limerick is also planned.

Bus Éireann this week stated that these enhancements would be introduced by the end of 2019.

It had been hoped to have the new Nenagh-Ballina-Limerick connection in place by June. This followed the decision earlier in the year by private bus operator JJ Kavanagh to drop Birdhill from its Dublin-Limerick route.

The company also discontinued its stops at Toomevara and Moneygall as it sought to achieve faster journey times between the cities due to a loss of passengers. It cited low passenger numbers in the local villages and said many passengers were already making their way to Nenagh and Roscrea to take the bus.

The National Transport Authority subsequently announced a new service run by Local Link between Nenagh and Roscrea, serving Toomevara and Moneygall. This went into operation last April; an updated timetable on the route (834) was announced by the NTA last week.

The replacement service on the Birdhill side of Nenagh has yet to commence but it has been welcomed by local representatives, particularly given that it will provide new travel options to people living along Lough Derg. It is understood that the Bus Éireann service will involve seven stops a day from Monday to Saturday with three on Sundays.  

The NTA is also reportedly looking at the possibility of a bus stop just off the M7 at Birdhill's Applegreen motorway service area for express route services.