Mr. Caoimhín Ó Ciaruáin:

The commitment around public transport under the Climate Action Plan is backed up by a commitment in the national development plan to capital funding in particular. The Deputy's specific question related to the PSO levy. It is under review constantly. One of the key issues there has to do with some of the proposals in the climate action plan, which will be supplemented through the sustainable mobility policy that will be forthcoming in the next couple of months. The policy will set out the framework for delivering much greater investment, including infrastructural investment across public transport and active travel. It involves more than just the conversion of the fleet to low-emission vehicles. There is a much wider strategy around the big projects, for example, BusConnects, and delivering a more reliable and attractive service from within the PSO provision. The latter will require investment on the service side. As such, both capital and current expenditure will make those projects deliver the level of modal shift that we are seeking.

The Deputy referenced a figure of 2.9% in respect of 2042. That is probably the greater Dublin area, GDA, strategy. The climate action plan sets out a significant modal shift through BusConnects and a number of other projects of 500,000 daily public transport and active travel journeys by 2030. This represents a 12% move away from fossil fuel cars to public transport journeys and active travel.