Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has asked me a specific question on integrated ticketing. I will not give him a response off the top of my head in case it is incorrect other than to say that during the course of this year, starting in the first quarter of the year, the integrated ticketing project will continue to roll out. The Deputy is probably aware that a number of the transport companies have already introduced the smart cards. Over the coming months those cards will be integrated to ensure they can be used in the manner the Deputy outlined, namely, that one will be able to go from one service to another without having to purchase tickets.

In general terms, by the end of this year most of the public transport companies in the greater Dublin area will have integrated ticketing in place. Its roll-out has been slow, and I share the Deputy's frustration in that regard. Since the integrated ticketing board was put in place in 2005 it has worked very well but the question of the back-up, the IT systems and so on has been much slower than I would have anticipated. I have discussions regularly with the chairman on that but he makes the not unreasonable point that he wants the system to work when it starts. Nobody will thank him or me if we have a big bang on the day the system is launched and it does not work. Perhaps the board is being a little more cautious.

I thank the Deputy for the points he made on cycling. The cycling policy is a national one. Some areas of the country such as Mayo and Cork have responded very well in the first few years of the programme. We hope to roll out the programme to all the other provincial cities, in addition to a smarter travel service in those cities also. There are studies that must be completed in that regard.

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