Mr. Frank Allen:

Decarbonising the fleet is a huge priority. Iarnród Éireann will never again buy a diesel engine. There are various things we have been doing and continue to do. We are, for example, pioneering a technology to introduce hybrid trains. This involves taking some of our existing rolling stock and retrofitting it. It is similar technology to a Prius car. That is being implemented at the moment.

The second thing we are doing, which I mentioned as one of our highest priorities, is the DART+ programme, which expands the electrification of the railway network in the greater Dublin area. This will make a huge difference in the number of trips that will be made on electric transport.

A further initiative is that we are in the market, and in the final stage of procurement, for new rolling stock. This is rolling stock that will be used for generations to come. It is entirely electrical vehicles, similar to the DART or battery electric. This means the train can operate under wires or through batteries on top, which can be charged and operate for certain distances of the journey even when there are no overhead lines.

The decarbonisation of the fleet may not be quite so apparent when one looks at a train passing. A lot has happened with the existing fleet. The new fleet we will introduce will be substantially decarbonised.

There are other initiatives I feel strongly about. We need to capture a substantial amount of freight traffic that is causing congestion on our roads, motorways and in access to ports. We are working with various third parties and we will be promoting development of rail freight, which was significant in Ireland in the past but which is not at the moment. We are going to recapture that. We are going to go back and get more goods onto rail in Ireland. That will make a big difference in decarbonisation from mobility more generally.

The Deputy referred to free travel in Luxembourg. Prior to the pandemic, the biggest challenge for Iarnród Éireann was its capacity constraint. We needed more capacity and if more people came along, we genuinely did not have the space for them. Now, as we move out of the pandemic, I believe the challenge ahead lies in attracting people back onto public transport. Some pricing intervention might be useful to get back to a situation where people are back travelling on all modes of public transport. Now that we hope to invest in a much larger fleet, we also hope to attract more people out of their cars and onto public transport.