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

This may not be an answer to the Deputy's question, but the whole objective of public transport policy is to ensure that more people have access to and use public transport than currently. We have seen some very good success stories and have seen examples of where things have not worked very well in this country. The most obvious example is the Luas, which requires no operating subvention. It will carry over 30 million passengers this year, more than Irish Rail and our airports, State and regional, combined. There are great success stories, but other attempts have not been so successful. However, the objective must always be to ensure that more people have access to public transport, that it works well and that the numbers using it increase. I do not believe people are all that bothered about who operates it. People in here may be concerned, but the average passenger is not. Nobody has ever told me he or she is annoyed that the Luas is not run by a State company. People are happy with the service. Nobody has said the reverse either in the context of Bus Éireann or Dublin Bus.

See this speech in context