Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely the case that international experience is mixed. The very good report produced by the Competition Authority gives an overview of where this has worked well, where it has not and the reasons for that success or lack thereof. The report gives us a good idea of how this can be done in the right way. The subvention paid to public transport is relatively low. It is important to compare like with like. In some countries, public transport operators receive public service obligation payments only. We also pay capital grants to such operators, particularly in the case of the railways. If one adds the capital grants to the public service obligation payments, one will find the level of subvention is not as low as it might seem. It is also important to bear in mind that we do not have the same level of public transport as other countries. We do not have high-speed rail or underground rail, for example.

If we did, subvention would obviously be higher. Touching on what Deputy Ross said earlier, I do not believe it would ever be possible to have a public transport system that did not require some subvention. It is a public service, after all. Therefore, it is always going to require some subvention if one wants an extensive network covering all the cities and rural areas.

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