Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I am grateful to the Minister of State for taking the debate at this hour of a Thursday evening. This is an issue where choosing the forum in which to raise it is difficult, because it involves a number of State and semi-State bodies. It is hard to ascertain directly through parliamentary questions what role the Minister can have. That is where I have combined two or three efforts into one for this evening.

The first is with regard to the timetabling of the Dublin Bus schedule in south County Dublin, namely, the 44 bus from Enniskerry to the city centre and the 47 bus from Stepaside. These two buses serve a number of schools and are a vital form of transport for school children at both national and secondary level to access their schools. However, due to small changes to the timetabling, the bus either goes too early or too late to get the kids to school on time. It is a very simple issue that all of us deal with in our constituencies every day of the week.

I have engaged with Dublin Bus and its response is that the buses are relatively full as is simply does not cut the mustard. It does not realise that Dublin Bus responsibility is as a public-service provider, as well as a company that has to ensure profits are made or losses are minimised. Therefore, I ask for an intervention to allow small tweaks. We are talking a difference of five to ten minutes to departure time of the second bus in order to allow kids to get to school via bus, get them on public transport, keep them out of the cars and not to force their parents, guardians or grandparents to take the car on the road when there is no need. It is a simple fix.

The second area I will raise is with regard to the Luas. The Luas is a wonderful facility that serves the entirety of my constituency. However, now that we have seen a return to 100% capacity, the vast majority of people returning to work and the vast majority of people having already returned to second and third level education, we see the old problems return in terms of the increase in demand. People are, increasingly, left on the platform or going on a Luas that is beyond crowded. This will only get worse.

The repeated announcements of the Minister for Transport and the previous Minister of new and expanded carriages is only enough to meet the current or, indeed, previous demand. The growing demand being added to by the large-scale construction and provision of housing throughout the south Dublin area, along the Ballyogan Road, along the Glenamuck Road, in Cherrywood and beyond, puts huge pressure on the Luas. What we see is people reluctant to take the risk of having to be left on the platform, having missed one or two carriages. It is a longer wait time, depending on where one gets on. Instead, they revert to the car and therefore, despite the 20% decrease in fares, we are not seeing them maximised.

The third area is very pressing. It looks ahead to the St. Patrick's Day festival to which we all look forward and the four-day weekend. It is the double bank holiday that was much promised. It will be the first real opportunity for many people to get out, socialise and I hope mark the end of the serious aspects of restrictions this pandemic has laid upon us. However, that comes again with pressure on public transport services, not just in south Dublin but throughout the entire city and region.

We already see late night transport squeezed to the maximum. There are not enough taxis on the road. Many drivers, for whatever reason, left the profession. Equally, the Nitelink bus service has only returned. I call for an extension of the Nitelink bus service and, crucially, for the Luas to take up Christmas timetabling with special late-night Luas services running until 3.30 a.m., such as we see in the weekends leading up to Christmas Day and over the new year period.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Richmond for giving me the opportunity to discuss this issue on behalf of the Minister. From the outset, I note that the Department of Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding with regard to public transport. However, it is not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The National Transport Authority has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public transport services nationally and for the allocation of associated funding to the relevant transport operators.

That being said, the Government is firmly committed to enhancing and expanding our public transport service provision across the country as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. Under the climate action plan, we have set ambitious targets for an additional 500,000 daily public transport and active-travel journeys to reduce internal combustion engine kilometres by 10% and add 1,500 EV buses to the public transport fleet, as well as expanding electrified rail services, all by 2030. A key objective is to provide all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options.

To support this, in budget 2022, the Department of Transport secured approximately €538 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and Local Link services. In addition, €25 million was provided to introduce a young adult card which will enable any person aged between 19 and 23 years old to avail of an average fare discount of 50% across all public transport services. This initiative will promote modal shift among this age cohort and contribute towards a reduced reliance on private transport. This exciting initiative will, of course, benefit many young people living in south Dublin.

Further, as part of a suite of new measures being introduced by Government to help combat the rising cost of living experienced throughout the country, a 20% average fare reduction on PSO services until the end of 2022 is also due to be introduced in early May.

I reassure the Deputy that I fully realise the importance of expanding public transport options in all locations throughout the country and the national development plan provide €35 billion for transport over the coming decade, the largest investment in transport in the history of the State. This provides the necessary support to translate our ambitions for public transport into reality.

Work is ongoing on the DART+ coastal south improvements programme which will provide increased rail capacity on the south-eastern line. In addition, there is also the planned development of a new DART station at Woodbrook, between Bray and Shankill, on the existing DART line. Consideration is also being given to new park and ride zones in the area.

In terms of bus services, a major programme of bus network enhancements is being introduced over the Dublin metro area and it is planned to introduce major new orbital services in south Dublin, including four new routes, the S2, S4, S6 and S8, to serve Ballsbridge, Rathmines, Heuston, UCD, Crumlin hospital, Liffey Valley, Dundrum and Tallaght.

This year, it is planned to introduce major new orbital services in south Dublin, including four new routes, namely, the S2, S4, S6 and S8, serving Ballsbridge, Rathmines, Heuston Station, University College Dublin, UCD, Crumlin hospital, Liffey Valley, Dundrum and Tallaght orbital.

Additionally, in 2023 and 2024, four new bus spines will be introduced in the area under BusConnects. These spines will connect Malahide Road to Crumlin, Ballymun to Foxrock, Swords Road to Terenure and Blanchardstown to UCD. Collectively, these measures will not only further improve connectivity but in conjunction with the planned expansion in cycling infrastructure, will provide viable alternatives to the private car for those living in the region. I will bring the Deputy's views back to the Minister about the St. Patrick's Day festival, late-night transport, the fact that taxis are very difficult to get and also the extension of Nightlink services to the Christmas timetable.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State sincerely for that comprehensive response. I appreciate the many efforts and initiatives being taken by this Government with regard to public transport provision across the State but particularly in the Dublin region.

Having engaged, or attempted to engage, with the Minister for Transport via parliamentary questions, letters and other means, I fully appreciate the responsibilities of the Department and Government are related to policy and funding as opposed to operations, which is with the National Transport Authority, NTA.

The policy, however, must fundamentally be about serving the public and anticipating difficulties. The funding, therefore, must be intelligent to meet the basic commitments of public transport provision this Government has made. The Minister of State is not off the hook. This simply cannot be delegated to the NTA because these are three quite straightforward issues.

This is not the first time I have raised them in this Chamber or in the Oireachtas overall. Indeed, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and I have had this discussion. Not only is he a former representative for the constituency but he is the current Teachta Dála for the wider Dublin area. He fundamentally understands these issues and that the policy of Government must be to see around the corner and spot the very obvious difficulties. I fundamentally welcome the Minister of State's update on the large-scale plans the Government has but we are looking for short-term solutions to short-term problems. They are very simple short-term solutions such as a tweaking of the bus service and the laying on of a night-time service, be it Luas, Dublin Bus or, indeed, in deference to my colleague, Deputy Alan Farrell, the DART.

We need to see those services provided. We need to see them in the next three weeks. Otherwise what are we going to see on St. Patrick's Day? One of the finest things this State did was the deregulation of the taxi industry. We need to look at large-scale, progressive policies that can address the issues at source.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Richmond, who came up with some interesting views regarding serving the public and anticipating difficulties. He also mentioned the NTA and that we need to deliver short-term solutions to short-term problems. We sometimes need outside-the-box thinking and I appreciate that.

I want to advise the Deputy that the introduction of the Transport for Ireland, TFI, 90-minute fare last year, as envisaged by the BusConnects programme, has hugely benefited public transport users in south Dublin. The TFI 90-minute boundary for rail services encompasses all zone 1 to 4 journeys taken from Dublin city centre. Accordingly, it extends to cover south Dublin.

Residents can avail of this promotional fare of €2.30 when using a Leap card, allowing them the option to transfer between Dublin Bus, Luas, most DART and commuter rail and all Go-Ahead Ireland services in Dublin as long as they touch on their last journey within 90 minutes of the first. The Deputy will agree that this allows for greater enhanced integration of public transport services. That does not address the Deputy's issue of trying to ensure there are extra services, however, which as he rightly said, serve the public and address the anticipated difficulties.

The roll-out of the new orbital bus routes and spines under BusConnects, as well as extensive planned works on the DART+ coastal and DART+ south-west projects, in conjunction with the continued work on key infrastructure projects including cycling facilities, will greatly enhance the current offering of public transport and active travel services in the south Dublin region.

As I said, in tandem with this, the introduction of the young adult cards and a 20% average fare discount means that 2022 looks to be an exciting year for public transport provision across the country as we slowly return to pre-pandemic travel patterns. I hope that clarifies a few issues. I will bring the Deputy's concerns to the Minister. I thank him for raising these very interesting and informative issues.