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

I understand that report is old news. It relates to a rail review published back in 2016. As I said earlier, over the past three years there has been a 35% increase in the subvention for public transport, that is, Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, so we are now increasing the subvention for public transport again. Capital spending is increasing, fares have risen, which has helped the financial position of these companies, and because of the recovery in the economy more people are using public transport, which is bringing in more fares. As I said earlier, if we did not close any rail lines during the ten years when the subvention was being reduced and fewer people were using the railways, we will hardly do it now that the subvention is increasing, passenger numbers are increasing and fare income is rising.

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