This year, Fingal plans to actually spend the money the NTA has allocated it to improve bus stops

Fingal County Council has been allocated €500,000 by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to improve its bus stops this year.

That’s according to a report from Fingal Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly, which was shared with councillors ahead of Monday’s full monthly council meeting.

This time, it plans to use it to improve 80 different stops across the county, Farrelly’s report says.

Last year, the council failed to draw down the same amount that the NTA had provided to it for 2024. The funding comes from the NTA’s Bus Stop Enhancement Programme.

The programme is supposed to help councils to upgrade bus stops, including by putting in poles, areas to stand, and bus shelters. 

Last year, after the NTA told the council it had €500,000 to spend, Fingal’s Operations Department wasn’t able to complete the necessary inventory on its bus stops before a deadline that September.

So, it didn’t draw down any of the monies allocated, a council spokesperson said on 18 February.

On 27 February, Hugh Creegan, the NTA’s Chief Executive had written to Nikki Halleran, Fingal’s senior executive officer saying each local authority has again received €500,000 under the programme for 2025.

The NTA would be engaging with each local authority over the following weeks to agree a programme of works, including discussions around the provision of bus shelters, he wrote.

Farrelly, in her chief executive’s report for July, wrote that four operational areas –  Howth/Malahide, Dublin 15, Swords and Balbriggan – would each receive €125,000.

After a meeting with the NTA in May, a list of proposed works at 20 bus stops was prepared for each area, and the council was waiting for the NTA’s approval for that, she wrote. 

Those works should be completed by November to draw down the grant, she wrote.