Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has announced 67 new or enhanced bus routes under the Connecting Ireland programme.
They will be rolled out before the end of the year at a cost €8.5 million.
Speaking in Tullamore at the launch of the routes, Mr Ryan said it was "a really important day for public transport in Ireland".
"It's the Connecting Ireland service, it started last year and now we are really ramping it up."
He said numbers have grown on the 38 bus routes introduced last year.
"Every time we put in a good frequent public transport service numbers take off," the minister said.
Mr Ryan described the Connecting Ireland programme as "a revolution in public transport in our country and we're only warming up", adding that the main constraint on rolling out the programme is recruiting new bus drivers.
"We need particularly younger people to go into this profession. It's a good job, you get thanked every day, along the way," the minister said.
He said some of the buses will be electric but that all will be accessible for everyone, including wheelchair users.
Anne Graham CEO of the National Transport Authority said there is an objective to make all public transport electric, but electric buses are being deployed first in cities and "we just need to test can the battery serve the distances that are travelled on local link services".
