Results 26,501-26,520 of 26,787 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I have discussed the matter with Iarnród Éireann. We have some infamous lifts, particularly on the line into Dublin, that are regularly out of service. Some of that is due to vandalism and antisocial behaviour, which is problematic in some areas. Iarnród Éireann is acutely aware of that matter and doing everything it can to improve accessibility. This will help greatly...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Fares are not set by me. We intend to keep the 90-minute fare. We will also be rolling out free transport for five-year-olds to eight-year-olds on PSO routes. We also have the fairer fares - there was a 50% reduction in rail fares for commuters in Drogheda. The Deputy and others have raised with me the anomaly with Skerries and Balbriggan. I have relayed that point, particularly on...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: During transport questions last night, a number of Deputies asked that question. Next generation ticketing is on the way. The contract is in place. There is a €165 million investment by the Exchequer on this which will greatly improve our ticketing system across our entire public transport network. It will allow for new ways to pay for public transport. It will also introduce...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I am absolutely sure because I asked those very questions and I compared it with our nearest neighbour, Britain, and how it would look to someone who was very used to going to Britain and tapping on and off. I am informed our system will be an advance of what you see in operation in London. The account based option will also be there for people. Right now, there are apps, such as the...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: That is not what we want to see here. There are examples of where IT systems have not been delivered well and have not done what they were intended for. It is not the situation here. Obviously, I have met the NTA in my role but specifically on this, I intend to met the NTA and the system developer to talk in more detail about that and about timelines in particular. I am absolutely assured...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy O'Gorman. He can be absolutely assured this Government is as committed as the previous one to continuing the real advancements that were made over the previous five years in the provision of active travel schemes. I am a bigger supporter of that. We have seen a lot of advancement in my own area of Fingal and we have seen the benefits of that such as the safer routes to...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: What I want to see this year is that we spend our outturn. There will be some carryover from last year within the programme as well. My intention is to get additional capital that will go across our Vote. Those discussions are not concluded yet but the target for the publication of the revised NDP is the month of July. I am a firm believer in active travel. It works. People respond to...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: No, I do not intend to put that in for 2026 at this stage. This is a question that came up last night where I gave an update in the Dáil, which was, for the advice of members, that we have started the work in relation to what that transport security force would look like. It will be operated under the NTA. It is expected to be rolled out in the greater Dublin area first and expanded...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Looking at the existing human resources that are in place right now, there may be an option for some of those officers to transfer into a transport security force once it is established. There are options like that, which I am looking at to see whether that can accelerate the operation of it. We want to get it right. It is there to support An Garda Síochána. It will have...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I have them and I can give the exact details, but I will give the run-through of what I said last night. We are looking at phase 2 as a further expansion of that, which runs into summer 2028, and the third phase is after that. This is the piece I am not absolutely content with myself, to be very honest, and that is the piece that I want worked out. Obviously, how we roll it out will be...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I know but, come on, I am here since the end of January. There were people who were here before me as well but the good thing is, and in fairness the previous Government and in fairness to my predecessor, the contract was entered into, the capital was secured and the work is under way. I would, if at all possible, like to see it done sooner. I cannot predict how the first roll-out phase...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: We are still in the negotiating process, and the Deputy has been through this as well as a Minister. I am not going to say in front of the committee what is the upper level of what we looked at. Suffice to say we are having good, positive, constructive and robust discussions with our colleagues in the Department of public expenditure, but they are going well. We will be allocated an...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I will deal first with the issue of active travel and I thank the Deputy for raising this. There is broad support for it. To take 2024 as an example, we spent more than was allocated. As the projects come through, we can move money within the Votes. The delivery has been excellent. The baseline that we have committed to in the programme for Government is €360 million per annum, so...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The national plan is up to 2030 and we will see it rolled out on a phased basis throughout that period. We have work to do, unquestionably, but I would contest that in the last couple of years in particular, we have seen a significant increase in charging facilities. We have other things to deal with as well, including the charging issues for terraced houses and multi-unit developments.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: We have published that in the national plan insofar as there is a phased roll-out between now and 2030. If the Deputy is asking me whether I have a target for when I am going to reach 13 per 10,000, I do not have that here in front of me but I will supply it to the Deputy. The Deputy raised the matter of grants for rural dwellers, rightly so. I am assessing options with regard to EV...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, I am.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I do not have it with me but I will hopefully have that information for the Deputy before the end of the session.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The end of quarter 2 is near. I do not know but I will find out and let the Deputy know during the course of this committee hearing. We are checking that now. I will come back to the Deputy.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: We have a job of work to do there. To go back to the original question, we have entered into contracts on PPP and we are committed to those contracts. An example is the monitoring of our motorway network at both the Jack Lynch tunnel and the Dublin Port tunnel, where I recently visited the centre. There is an upgrade of all of our cameras and monitoring right the way across the motorway...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I am.