Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

It is a fairly long question and it was quite a long answer. It was not a question put down by me. I want to ask a number of supplementary questions which the Minister might be good enough to answer. First, regarding integrated ticketing, which is relevant to the question, many people have been frustrated and bemused by how long it has taken to put in place the IT, software and hardware necessary to allow for integrated ticketing whereby people can move from bus to train to tram on the basis of the one ticket. I ask the Minister to outline for the record the time-line in terms of seeing integrated ticketing in Dublin and surrounding areas, which is the first phase, but also for people travelling to Dublin and to other parts of the country, to ensure that somebody who gets a bus to the train in Cork, gets the train to Dublin and then the Luas into the city centre can buy one ticket and get the flexibility and the value for money that brings.

Second, regarding the success of the dublinbikes project, one of the successes of the Minister has been to promote cycling, not just in Dublin but also in other parts of the country. Does the Minister's Department intend to replicate the success of the dublinbikes programme to other cities such as Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and so on, and particularly to cities that are tourism destinations where there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that an extension of that programme would work well?

See this speech in context