East Meath Fine Gael Councillor and public transport campaigner, Sharon Tolan has called on the National Transport Authority and Bus Eireann to include the village of Julianstown in their Connecting Ireland Plan. 

The Plan will connect rural towns and villages to larger towns and services and has already delivered new improved services all around Navan town which has experienced exponential growth.

Speaking at a meeting with local gastro pub owner Tom Carson of The Limekiln, Tolan said: “It is absolutely crucial that Bus Eireann and the NTA take action on this issue sooner rather than later. 

“We have a growing population in Julianstown who want to leave the car at home and use public transport for connectivity to the local towns in East Meath like Bettystown and Laytown for medical appointments, shopping, beach visits, golf club and of course access to the train station. 

“If we are really serious about getting people out of their cars and using public transport, we must provide the services to everyone in rural towns and villages too. 

“We need to ensure that our younger generations also have access to efficient and reliable public transport for daily uses to encourage less reliance on cars into the future.  Teaching our young people about independent public transport travel is essential for the future.”

Tom Carson, owner of the The Limekiln Gastropub added “As a business owner I am restricted from employing young people from local towns like Laytown and Bettystown because they have no reliable public transport links to Julianstown to get to work, as well as patrons from East Meath who would prefer to leave the car at home and enjoy a meal and a drink locally and use a bus service for getting here and back home safely. 

“The people of Julianstown are being isolated with the current plan, there is no safe foot path or cycle lane to use, so public transport is the only option for many.  More and more people want to use public transport but there just aren’t enough services for everyone to be able to do that. ” 

 To support the call for a bus service for Julianstown the public should email connectingireland@nationaltransport.ie

 “I’m all about People Power, and I’m asking the public to get behind this call for improved transport services and email the NTA today” said Tolan.