Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I happened to have discussions with some of my officials on that topic this week. Everyone recognises that the old system, which assumes everyone is commuting five days a week for 30, 40 or more weeks per year, is no longer most people's lived experience. The NTA is engaging with partners to look at options to deliver more flexible projects. Everyone wants to do that. I was explaining one of the difficulties in this area to Deputy Nash in the Dáil yesterday. Let us apply that notion to the Luas, for example. In that case, it could be done tomorrow because with the Leap card system, which is a swipe-in and swipe-out system, people could easily measure how many days a week they are using it or allocate a certain amount of days and use it up to that threshold.

On a rail or bus system, we do not have those swipes on and off. We do not have the data on the number of days per week or what journeys people take. The absence of that data is a complication that makes it difficult. We would ideally have a two- or three-day week taxsaver system. Currently, the infrastructure is not there to back that up, which is why the NTA is taking time to look at every option and come up with a practical workaround solution.