Ms Marie Donnelly:

Not free transport but reduced-cost transport. Indeed, one areas of emphasis of the council relates not just to reduced-cost transport, which is what we are looking at now, but also to schoolchildren transport. The council is concerned we must ensure access to school is done in a way that can reduce emissions, and that means access to low-cost public transport for children going to school in both rural and urban spaces. In that context, I return to what I said earlier. It is not just emissions but also, ultimately, air quality, safety for schoolchildren and congestion in the spaces around schools. That is the council's position and we are continuing to monitor the impact of the approach.

With regard to aviation, the Deputy is quite right. The most recent European Green Deal legislation coming through now is mandating the dropping of an element of SAF in aviation, but it is also putting in place provisions for marine. One area for marine fuels that is being looked at is ammonia. There are difficulties with ammonia, given it is a very caustic fuel, but as a substitute for some of the heavy-duty diesel, which is what a lot of the marine sector uses, it certainly provides opportunities. These provisions are likely to come in within the next few years. The concern is that aviation and, indeed, marine transport tend to be global, so it is difficult for an individual country to introduce provisions that can impact on the entire industry. It needs to be done at a global level. As the Deputy will be aware, the Corsica provision is in place for aviation and there are provisions under the green deal for shipping. Ireland should and will follow those as and when they come into effect.