Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

I propose to outline the main policies being pursued within my areas of responsibility as Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. It is a financially challenging environment and reductions in expenditure are necessary because of the dreadful legacy we have been left. However, we are maximising our resources and, in many ways, will enhance the lot of commuters, cyclists and transport users, despite these pressures.

The sustainable travel and transport agenda is, fundamentally, about the travel choices we make on a daily basis. We have continued to prioritise this area. Between workers and students, approximately 400,000 people travel 4 km or less to work, school or college by car every day, distances that are very amenable to cycling or even walking. Let us consider the progress we could make on a range of agendas - health, competitiveness, congestion and climate change - if these commuters could be persuaded to travel by bike or even to walk.

This ambition underpins all our funding in sustainable travel and, where practical, we need to get people out of cars. People need infrastructural incentives for that. We will continue to invest in these key projects and schemes, such as the national cycling policy, the smarter travel areas, smarter travel workplaces and green schools and look to extend the city bike scheme. All of these will continue to encourage and facilitate modal shift away from the car. Our work to date has shown that major progress is being made on this front.

Already through the jobs initiative we have provided more than €20 million to improve our walking and cycling infrastructure while creating employment with shovel-ready projects. This is funding that would simply not be in the economy without a change of Government. Despite severely constrained Exchequer resources we will continue to invest and enhance bike week, where this year more than 30,000 people took part in events throughout the country. We will continue to progress the national cycle network and invest in off-road cycle routes. The long-term goal of having a world class cycle network is still a real ambition for the Government. We will continue to seek to extend the Dublin bikes scheme to other cities. We are seeing evidence in Dublin of a welcome return to cycling. I am convinced that the Dublin bikes scheme has played a role in bringing this about.

The capital funding budget secured for smarter travel over the multi-annual funding framework could allow for Exchequer investment in establishing schemes in the other cities. However, we will need private sector support to achieve this. In this regard, four symposia were held in the regional cities to explore possible funding options and work is ongoing in this regard.

What we see from this is that cycling and sustainable travel continue to be at the heart of Government's policy in transport and real achievements will be made despite the difficulties. Whether it is through green schools, smarter travel workplace measures or through the smarter travel areas scheme, we will make major progress in getting people to use and consciously think about more sustainable forms of travel.

I will now discuss the public service obligation, PSO, subvention. Since November 2009 it is the responsibility of the National Transport Authority, NTA, to contract for PSO services with the CIE bus and rail companies on the basis of total funding advanced by my Department. In recent years the total subvention paid to the three CIE subsidiaries has been reduced by 15% from a high of €308 million in 2008 to €263 million this year. Despite our economic problems and the reduced sums available for capital and current expenditure, the Government will continue to prioritise the role of public transport. Unfortunately, the amount that can be made available for the PSO subvention must be reduced again and it will be reduced to €242.32 million, a reduction of 8% next year.

As the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has already indicated, we will expect the NTA to take a hard look at the scope and value for money of the PSO contracted public transport services in the light of reduced resources. The CIE companies have been very effective to date in delivering such savings without having too adverse an impact on services. It will be a challenge to retain services at current levels. Nonetheless, the focus should be on the achievement of cost savings and maximising patronage of the public transport system rather than simply cutting services. However, we can and are taking steps to make public transport more attractive to soften the impact of the reductions.

The introduction of automatic vehicle location, AVL, real time passenger information, RTPI, and integrated ticketing will have a significant positive impact on the passenger experience. Very shortly, it will be possible to check in real time on our phones when our next transport service is due and use the same ticket in our wallets to switch between bus, rail and Luas in Dublin. That was simply not possible under the previous Government. While I am not suggesting it is the solution to our transport problems, they are still solid, practical and workable achievements. It shows we are focusing on real deliverables for passengers and commuters. The integrated ticketing project will soon be delivered and the Leap card will be in shops shortly. It will also be one of the cheapest ways to use public transport in Dublin. It has been one of my top priorities as a Minister of State and it is certainly a welcome achievement, ten years after it was first promised by previous Administrations.

A review of taxi regulations is being undertaken at present. We are giving serious priority to the taxi sector, which was completely ignored by previous Administrations. On 8 June I announced the terms of reference for a review of the small public service vehicle, SPSV, sector in line with a commitment in the programme for Government. Specific recommendations will be made on matters concerning licensing, enforcement, vehicle standards, supply issues in rural and urban areas and future dialogue with the taxi sector. The review will enable the necessary further reforms of the sector to allow consumers to have confidence in the taxi system while ensuring that legitimate and competent operators and drivers can be rewarded by operating fairly under a regulatory framework that is adequately enforced. Good progress was made on the review and I envisage that the review steering group, which I am chairing, will sign off on its report, including a list of proposals for enhancement of the SPSV sector in the very near future. Publication of the review will be subject to Government approval and I expect to submit the review proposals to Cabinet quite soon. It is my ambition that the review will put the taxi sector on a much more solid regulatory footing which will benefit operators and consumers.

We need to make sure transport is not just seen as an urban issue. In rural areas people have great difficulty accessing basic transport services. Without proper transport, people will be isolated. Transport is necessary for an inclusive society giving people access to work, education, medical and social services and access to family and friends. I am happy to say the Government has maintained funding for the Rural Transport Programme, RTP, in 2012 at some 92% of the 2011 allocation. Essentially, €9.77 million will be made available for the RTP next year and this should facilitate the maintenance of on-the-ground transport services in rural areas in 2012.

However, the importance of achieving greater efficiencies in the administration costs associated with implementing the RTP has to be stressed. As much as possible of the programme funding should be concentrated on the provision of transport services. My Department is currently looking at the issue of efficiencies that can be made by bringing together aspects of HSE transport, school transport, the Rural Transport Programme and other transport services. The overall aim is to reduce duplication and costs while increasing efficiency and maintaining service provision. The future direction of rural transport needs to be as part of a wider integrated local transport service in the country and work in that regard is proceeding.

We are in a difficult financial environment. However, we are doing far more than just cutting. We are actively protecting services in urban and rural areas, improving the passenger experience through technology, incentivising cycling and walking and we will put the taxi sector on a more solid regulatory footing. We are picking up the pieces of a fragile economy, left to us by Fianna Fáil, but the other Ministers in the Department and I are intent on delivering results, which we are doing to date.

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