Mr. Hugh Creegan:

The programme has been branded as Connecting Ireland. I agree it has been transformative. Wherever we have rolled it out, it has been embraced and used. Suddenly people have an option to travel which they never had before. As Senator Noonan said, the fare adjustments make it all very attractive overall. Getting the resources to roll it out has been a challenge. We do not know just yet what funding we will have next year and in future years, and we will need to see that. We would definitely like to do much more in this area. Giving people who have no option but to drive the option to use public transport is one of the big things that would make a dent in our emissions.

With regard to the 30 km/h speed limit areas, I am not sure I will comment on the default position of doing it overall. In general, we have done transport strategies for all of the metropolitan areas. We very much support the lower speed limit of 30 km/h in residential areas. We are totally comfortable with the roll-out. The default position is slightly more complicated.

With regard to connections to tourist locations, we do much of this already. We link up with Fáilte Ireland on identifying service gaps that need to be filled and we try to plug them into Connecting Ireland. It has sort of been mainstreamed at this stage. Connecting Ireland is a pretty mature programme. It is a matter of growing it further. As Senator Noonan stated, it has been a game-changer for many people.