To ask the Minister for Regional Development whether his Department has any plans to allow public transport to avail of the hard shoulder on the M2 and M5 motorways.

Currently public transport does use the hard shoulder on the M2 between Browns Road (between Junction 5 and Junction 4) and the Hightown Bridge (just after Junction 4).

My Department’s Roads Service has commissioned consultants to investigate what additional parts of the Northern Ireland motorway network might benefit from using the hard shoulder and the cost effectiveness of using motorway hard shoulders for use by all traffic and, separately, for use by public transport only. Roads Service is currently considering the results of this study.