Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The young adult card was launched on PSO services on 9 May, with more than 1,000 applications received by the NTA on the launch day alone. We are currently working on broadening the initiative to include commercial bus services, with the aim to have that in place before the return of third level colleges. This will mean that, nationwide, those aged between 19 and 23 will be able to avail of an average 50% discount in their public transport fares.

The initiative, as the Deputy will know, is aimed at supporting our young people to establish strong and sustainable mobility habits. Setting public transport fares at appropriate levels is key to achieving this objective. I am pleased to say that since April, when a further 20% reduction in PSO fares was introduced, all passengers under the age of 24 in possession of a Leap card now travel on PSO services at significantly reduced rates.

Under the TFI 90-minute fares scheme, a young adult aged between 19 and 23 pays just €1 to travel for up to 90 minutes on Dublin Bus, Luas and most DART, commuter rail and Go-Ahead Ireland services in Dublin, while a child pays just 65 cent for the same trip. Child fares are available to everyone under 16 and to those aged between 16 and 18 when paying with a personalised Leap card. For those paying with cash, the child fare is only applicable to under-16s. As such, I strongly recommend that those in the 16- to 18-year age bracket apply for their personalised Leap cards which can be done easily on leapcard.ie.

In response to the Deputy's question regarding the uptake of the young adult card, it is important to stress that the initiative has only been up and running for a matter of weeks. After a reasonable period of time, the NTA will carry out detailed research to determine its full impact. I will report that in May alone, the number of people who had a child Leap card, student Leap card or the new young adult Leap card increased by more than 16,000, which is extremely encouraging.

See this speech in context