Mr. Hugh Creegan:

I confirm that we are fully supportive of that objective. There has been a lot of investment in public transport over the last number of years. The Deputy is right; we have seen phenomenal growth in the numbers. Other international jurisdictions have not yet recovered to their pre-Covid levels while we are way beyond them. That is indicative of more and more people finding the public transport system useful to them. The challenge is that demand is increasing and we need to be able to fund the additional services we need and we need resources in terms of drivers and mechanics to run them. The Deputy will have heard all that is happening on the resources side. On funding, I do not know what our 2026 budget to support these services is going to be.

However, we would welcome recognition in the budget of the need to support public transport at a level that is enhanced by comparison with what it is now to allow what the Deputy is legitimately looking for.