The Stormont Infrastructure Minister has said she is “battling to ensure the survival” of Northern Ireland’s public transport system.

       Translink, which runs bus and train services across Northern Ireland, has been beset with financial difficulties in the past which were compounded by a dramatic fall in usage during the coronavirus pandemic.

       Earlier this year, Auditor General Kieran Donnelly said “ongoing funding uncertainty” was a “significant risk to the financial sustainability” of Translink.

       Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon (Niall Carson/PA)

       (PA Wire)

       Nichola Mallon was pressed in the Assembly on Tuesday by Alliance MLA Andrew Muir to take steps to put Translink’s finances on a “more sustainable footing”.

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       He also accused Finance Minister Conor Murphy of “shrugging his shoulders” at this issue.

       Ms Mallon described the matter as a “very important and concerning issue”.

       “I know that the finance minister is very quick to point out, and rightly so, the financial support that was provided to our publicly owned public transport network in the face of Covid given passenger numbers were decimated and therefore income, but I also am becoming increasingly concerned at the finance minister’s push for cuts to our public transport network because Translink has delivered a number of efficiencies, it did so during Covid as well,” she told MLAs.

       The Londonderry to Coleraine train passing Downhill, in Co Londonderry (Paul Faith/PA)

       (PA Archive)

       “And I hear, from members right across this House, calls, very passionate calls, for the expansion of our public transport network, expansion of our bus network, expansion of our rail network but I have to be honest with people, I share that ambition but I’m battling right now to ensure the survival of our existing public transport network.

       “That’s not good for connecting communities, that’s not good for tackling regional imbalance and it’s certainly not good for tackling the climate crisis.”