Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On a related point, will the Minister give me a sense of what he will do to encourage people back onto public transport? He said the Covid supports account for a significant part of that 6% budget decrease. We have provided €208 million to subsidise the public service obligation, PSO, routes on top of what would normally be given. It seems strange there would be such a massive additional subvention for our public transport services at this time. It was fair enough during the pandemic when people were encouraged not to use public transport. Should we take this opportunity to encourage people onto public transport? It is fair enough to encourage people back onto public transport but it would be better again to encourage people onto public transport for the first time. That would align well with our climate objectives and modal shift. I understand a piece of work has been done on the youth travel card, and the Minister might give us an update as to when that will happen and how it will affect the private operators, but is there a big idea from Government to reduce fares or anything else to encourage people back onto public transport in 2022?