Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

It will need legislation. I am on the transport committee and am happy to work on that legislation, but we need clear commitments on when we will actually get these things done.

Similarly on the issue of next-generation ticketing, I suggest the end of 2026 to have that implemented by. The Minister of State's speech spoke of taking a number of years. The Minister has now given us a date of the end of 2027, which I welcome. That is important. We have already committed €149 million to Indra Sistemas. That is a lot of public money. I do not think the idea of it happening "in the next couple of years" is good enough. I welcome the fact that we have an end of 2027 deadline in terms of the achievement of next-generation ticketing.

One thing I was struck by in the contributions from Deputies across the House was how many raised the improvements in rural transport through Local Link and town services. For far too many people living in rural Ireland, public transport simply is not an option. That is why, in the previous Government, the Green Party prioritised the Connecting Ireland rural bus programme. We know that Local Link bus services are a key lifeline in many communities, particularly for those who simply do not own a car. The roll-out of additional Local Link services since 2022 has created a fivefold increase in the number of journeys taken. There were 20,000 Local Link journeys taken in 2022, but 100,000 in 2024. That is a huge improvement. Connecting Ireland has transformed public transport in rural Ireland. It is connecting many communities, some for the first time, and giving regular and frequent services. This is not just about moving people. It is about breaking down barriers, ending isolation and ensuring elderly people have those options available to them.

At the centre of the proposals in my motion is the need to improve the commuter experience. Too often, passengers in Ireland face ghost buses, inaccurate information about arrivals and departures on transport apps, broken real-time monitors and inflexibility in how they pay their fares. The Minister will have heard Deputy after Deputy speak about how ghost buses in particular are undermining public confidence in the transport system. The Minister did a nice little TikTok himself about it a couple of weeks ago.

We have called on the Government to set up a public transport passenger experience office. That will ensure accurate information is provided to passengers, particularly if a service is delayed or cancelled. It will ensure a revamping of the entire real-time system because it is not working. The different apps tell people different things. It will improve services for people with mobility challenges and people with disabilities. I note what the Minister said about the consolidated contact centre. I see that as progress but while its role is gathering data from the public transport companies themselves and analysing that, what we need is something for the passenger when he or she has a problem. We do not have that at the moment. What is there at the moment is not accurate and is not important.

I note the improvement in stations where there is only a one-hour notice period for people with disabilities and the improvement to the 15 stations, but we all recognise that there is a job of work to do. The Minister recognised that in his own contribution.

Affordability is key. We know that public transport users are price sensitive. It is important that the overall cuts in public transport fares that were introduced by the previous Government be maintained, as they are important cost-of-living measures. I heard what the Minister said about that. What I am disappointed about relates to my call for a cut of at least another 20% over the lifetime of this Government. The Minister was fairly uncertain on that particular point. Funding for public transport services is focused on existing fare initiatives. That is not ambitious enough. The Government should be looking across four budgets to be taking another chunk off the cost of public transport for commuters because when we do that, they will respond and move onto our services, particularly as capacity grows over the next number of years. Let us reward commuters and make it as attractive as possible for them to make that move.

I welcome Deputy Canney's outlining of the project prioritisation strategy for the all-Ireland strategic rail review.

I know we had to cancel statements on it today, but I hope we will have an opportunity to discuss the all-Ireland strategic rail review. It has major potential for linking parts of the country that have been isolated and neglected for far too long. It has a major North-South element. In order to deliver some key projects in that review, the NDP review, as the Minister said, is absolutely central.

The Green Party calls for an extra €10 billion to be allocated to the Minister's Department over the course of the next five years to 2030. Major projects, including the DART upgrade, metropolitan rail in Cork and Limerick, the western rail corridor, gluas in Galway or the metrolink in Dublin, will not be developed with the current allocation for the Department, given the other transport priorities he has outlined. Deputy Feighan spoke clearly about that. I hope the Minister is fighting as hard as possible for an increased capital allocation.

The Green Party of course opted to table a motion on public transport as it has a direct consequence on our carbon emissions. We know that transport is one of the areas where we are not getting on top of reducing emissions. We also accept that ordinary commuters are not thinking about that on their way to work every day. On a dark winter morning in Blanchardstown when it is raining and the bus flies by a bus stop because it is already full or a family is taking to a trip from Athlone where everyone has to stand on the train because what was marketed as a five-carriage train only has four carriages, there is a daily pain that people experience in terms of being late because real-time information on the app was not correct. All of this weighs on people's patience and time. People are simply thinking they want a public transport system that actually works for them.

Due to the irritation people experience, they often perhaps do not recognise the improvements that are taking place, to which many Deputies have referred. While the significant increase in capital investment is needed, the penny has to drop in the Department and the NTA that passenger experience is of critical importance to public confidence in and satisfaction with the delivery of the infrastructure and to get them moving. That starts with the Minister. I hope he is able to follow through on the commitments we have discussed today.

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