Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

I thank the Deputy for his very precise request and for raising this topic, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy O’Brien. The Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, neither he nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the NTA. The NTA works with the public transport operators that deliver the services and has responsibility for day-to-day operational matters.

That said, I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays key role of the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2025 the Department of Transport secured €658.442 million in public funding for public service obligations and TFI Local Link services. That is an increase from €613 million in 2024. This funding also supports continuation after a 20% fare reduction in PSO services, the young adult card for both PSO and commercial bus services and the 90-minute fare until the end of 2025. Funding is also being secured to extend free child fares on PSO services to include those between ages five and eight and to support the roll-out of new enhanced bus and rail services under programmes such as BusConnects and Connecting Ireland.

The NTA has strategy responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect to public transport services provided under the PSO contracts. In this context, in April 2023 the NTA published a new national fare strategy. The fare strategy follows the implementation of the simplified fare structure in Dublin. This strategy aims to create a more equitable, consistent and easy-to-understand fare system based on distance travelled. In January 2024, the NTA published fare determinations covering the Dublin city zone, which extends 25 km from the city centre to Rush, Ratoath, Blanchardstown and Bray, and the Dublin commuter zone, which extends 50 kilometres, from the city centre, to Drogheda, Kildare, Rathdrum, etc. Phase 1 was implemented in June 2024 and focused on fares for shorter journeys within Dublin. Phase 2, initially scheduled for September 2024, was delayed due to technical issues with the rail ticketing system. The second phase of the previously announced fare determinations was implemented on Monday, 28 April, introducing new multimodal fare caps in Dublin and revised commuter rail services, with revised commuter fares to come into effect in mid-May. The implementation saw the roll-out of the new Dublin city fare zone and three new Dublin commuter fare zones. Communications campaigns in the form of posters at train stations, etc., commenced on Monday, 24 April. I will refer to this further in my next contribution.

See this speech in context