Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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95. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will report on service level requirements for private operators on public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9454/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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What are the service level requirements for private operators on public transport and will the Minister make a statement on the matter? Commuters the length and breadth of the country are exasperated because of the shambolic service some of them have come to expect as normal. Week in, week out, we receive complaints about ghost buses, late buses and students who are trying to get home from the University of Limerick, for example, to Kerry, whereby the second bus does not turn up and they are very late coming home for the weekend. Everyone can agree it is not up to scratch.

This is not just a minor inconvenience. It is seriously affecting people's daily lives.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The vast majority of public service obligation bus services are provided by State operators through what are known as direct award contracts. Remaining routes are run by operators awarded a contract following a competitive tendering process. Sometimes those routes are operated by a State operator and sometimes they are operated by a private operator. This mix of contract award processes is in accordance with the relevant EU and Irish regulatory frameworks.

The performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators and performance reports are available to view on the NTA’s website. I reassure the Deputy that the NTA uses all the contractual and regulatory powers available to it to measure, report on and seek to maintain and improve standards across all PSO public transport services. Further, in instances where performance drops, such as those we saw recently on certain routes, financial penalties are rigorously applied unless the cause of the loss of performance is outside of the control of the operator.

I recently met NTA representatives specifically on this matter because not only do I want the NTA to focus on the bus operators but I want the bus operators to focus on customer service and certainty as best as possible so that people know that if a bus is scheduled, it will turn up. Everybody understands there may be the odd instance where that does not happen but on certain routes we have seen that with too great a frequency. The NTA is carrying out a specific review of those incidents over the past few weeks, at my request, and will report directly back to me. In the instances we are aware of, the issue was due to a shortage of mechanics and the knock-on impact that had on fleet availability. That led to the recent issues on the newly launched phase 6a of BusConnects. We do not want to see this happening. We want more people to use public transport and, thankfully, they do. There were 330 million journeys made on public transport last year, so the figure is increasing and people are responding. The bus network is now better but we need to ensure the service is there to back it up.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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We all agree that if the service is there, more people will use it. The Minister mentioned performance reviews. I am sure he will agree that the service provided to date is not up to scratch. I ask him to confirm that is the case.

The Minister mentioned penalties. We have heard stories about the farcical situation where some bus drivers commence a route at stage eight or nine of the bus journey, rather than starting at the beginning. They drive straight through to stop eight or nine and complete the journey in order to avoid the inevitable fines that will accrue if the bus is late. It is unacceptable. To get a sense of the problem I reached out to some of my fellow TDs and received an avalanche of examples of services that were failing to deliver. It makes it all the more frustrating that the Government seems to be determined to continue with services that are failing to deliver. This was borne out by the recent chaos at Go-Ahead Ireland. In the response we received from the NTA, it agreed the service was inadequate and that Go-Ahead Ireland would be fined €5 million. It is not a new issue. Things are getting worse. Will the Minister outline why the contract has been renewed for a service that is so obviously failing to deliver?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has the answer, in that a very severe fine was levied. Public transport is not disimproving. We need to ensure punctuality. We have a growing population. There are developments all over the country that need to be serviced by the bus network. This year, €658 million has been provided for the PSO, up from €613 million the year before.

We have seen a significant reduction in public transport fares. I will extend free fares to five- to eight-year-olds, a measure brought forward by the previous Minister. We will also look at how we can further improve the offering. People are responding. There were record passenger numbers last year and this year we must work hard to ensure they increase further. There were issues with that particular operator on certain routes. I raised those issues publicly and met representatives of the NTA. The Deputy said the contract should not have been awarded. Should the NTA cancel a contract on an existing service? What impact would that have on the road users or bus users in the area in question?

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister mentioned a reduction in fares. Only last week, there was an outrageous proposal that commuters would be punished for the Government's failure to deliver essential transport infrastructure. Last Friday, it was reported that commuters would be subject to increased fares to pay for public transport infrastructure and some of these projects have already been in the pipeline for decades. When we are trying to encourage more people to take public transport the last thing the Government should do is blame the victim by punishing commuters who need to get to work, go to college and attend medical appointments by making public transport more expensive for them,

Ordinary workers and families in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis can barely afford to make ends meet. They should not be forced to bear the burden of the decades of Government failures in public transport. In fact, it should be the opposite. The previous Government was dragged kicking and screaming by the former Minister to a better position but blaming and punishing commuters is a regressive step. It is not a zero-sum game and one set of priorities must not be sacrificed for another. The fare reductions must be kept in place.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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There were issues on certain routes in the past few weeks and I publicly stated they were not acceptable. I use this opportunity to restate to bus operators that paying customers - all customers indeed because many do not have to pay now due to the expansion of free travel - expect a reliable services. In many instances, that is exactly what they get.

We will continue the investment in our bus fleet throughout the country, in our cities and regions and in rural transport as well. We will continue the investment in our rail network. We are seeing very significant investment and we will see further improvements in that this year and next. The national development plan review provides an opportunity to invest further capital in significant transport infrastructure to improve the lot of customers and users of public transport. We want people to use public transport. It is good for many reasons and we are seeing significant increases in passenger numbers across all modes of public transport.