Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said quite clearly that when someone forms the habit at a young age of using public transport, it will extend into later life. The introduction of the fare reductions recently has not been well publicised but it is a significant decrease in public transport fares of 20% for everybody, but a 50% reduction for under-24s, which seems to have gone under the radar a bit. We need to publicise it and get people back on to public transport because of the emissions and congestion associated with transport.

However, advances are being made in transport and that is why it is so important to get young people on to and using it now. I look to measures such as the DART+ extension and expansion and the significant investment in BusConnects, Connecting Ireland, the rural bus system and the expansion in Cork, Galway and Limerick rail. I note the article today about new stations in Moyross and Ballysimon.

They are all important additions to the public transport network and that is why it is so vital we get young people on the system and that we encourage them onto it.

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