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

When one makes comparisons it is important to compare like with like. Public transport systems that have underground elements to them, such as the Paris Metro or the London Underground, must have more subvention because running underground is so expensive. Had we been able to go down the route of running underground systems, much more subvention would have been required.

One must bear in mind that when we discuss subvention in Ireland we refer only to the public service obligation, PSO, element of it. On top of that there are capital grants. Therefore comparisons between subvention in Dublin or the rest of Ireland with that in other countries is very often inaccurate because it includes only part of our subsidy. We also give very large capital grants to Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann which are not included in the subvention figures. It is important to compare like with like. Tendering includes a subvention. That is the point of tendering with PSO. The companies tendering for a contract are asked to provide as good a service as possible for the amount of money available.

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