Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

It is disappointing to hear that this important development will not be rolled out for a number of years. As the Minister of State said, many other countries have had contactless payment options rolled out for years. However, we are still waiting for a trial run for the Dublin bus network, never mind elsewhere in the State. It is reflective of the wider failure of the current and previous Governments to keep up with technological advances. Another example of this is that TFI currently has five different smartphone apps for different public transport services, including a journey planner app, a Leap card top-up app, a taxi driver database app, an app for public transport tickets and an app for local services in certain parts of the State. Clearly, there is a need to amalgamate some of these apps to make getting public transport a more user-friendly and accessible experience. Are there are any plans to streamline these apps? Does the Minister of State intend to engage with the NTA on this?

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