Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The fare reduction is welcome and we need to see more, but it is useless if the public transport does not exist or is bringing people on a route that is already congested so they are missing buses or being left behind. Giving increased funding to the Department of Transport when it is not spending the money it already has is more or less pointless. It is not just us saying this, as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned capital spending will need to be on average €2.7 billion higher than it is now from 2024 to 2030. The Minister mentioned the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. Is it going to be like a bailout fund for these infrastructure projects? It is not going to be drawn down until after 2026 either, so there is a massive incongruity to the Government's entire transport capital project plan.

The Minister says the Government is committed to MetroLink. Is it going to commit the funding to deliver MetroLink, the funding to deliver BusConnects and the funding to deliver the Luas connections in Dublin and Cork?

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