Results 26,541-26,560 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: To be fair, the Deputy has raised this with me, particularly as it relates to capacity on the red line. That is something we will raise, and which I think has been raised with the operator following his previous intervention. We had a good discussion on oral questions last night on the question of the project office for Luas. I will look into that in further detail. I think most will...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I should have congratulated the Deputy at the outset on his appointment as party spokesperson on transport. I look forward to working with him and colleagues like Deputy Crowe to advance our plans and objectives over the course of this. On safe routes to school, in my home town of Malahide, we delivered another safe route to school outside Pope John Paul II school. The delays to that were...

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

Darragh O'Brien: No, not right now. I want it done as quickly as we can. We have to get it right. To be fair to the team here, we have done a fair bit of work with it. There are options there and we need to select which options. We had a good meeting with the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and his team last week. It is clear there are no impediments from the justice side. I just wanted to make...

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

Darragh O'Brien: It is interesting the Deputy raised that point because as one travels around Dublin, one can see the differences in quality of roads in some local authorities. I say that as a road user. I often wonder why that is the case. Is it the prioritisation of certain things within a local authority? Where specific issues are raised with me as transport Minister, I will raise them with the local...

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

Darragh O'Brien: We have embarked on a reform agenda within the RSA and there will be changes to the organisation. I think it is fair to say that the RSA has become much more than it what it was originally envisaged to be, taking on the NCT, driver testing and the whole road safety education piece. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and I have engaged directly with the RSA in respect of driver testing....

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

Darragh O'Brien: Good point. As regards Dublin Mid-West, and I know the Deputy has been very vocal and a really strong advocate for his constituents there as regards the additional provision of public transport capacity, light rail will be a game changer where he is and the DART+ programme will be extremely important, as will Luas Lucan. We will have to manage these things over the next few years but we are...

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

Darragh O'Brien: We are fortunate in this country to have four well-resourced international airports. We have Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Ireland West Knock, all of which are growing. As regards Shannon in particular, and I have met the management team from Shannon, the airport has capacity for up to 10 million passengers without any requirement for any significant infrastructural changes there. Our...

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

Darragh O'Brien: May I just mention one thing? With all this, and I do not disagree with the Deputy, there is the commercial decision of the airline as well. All our airports need to be hungry for business and need to go after airlines for business and put together what are very clear advantages about Shannon, Cork and other airports around accessibility and, particularly, where visitors to Ireland actually...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I have the Department of Transport and the Department of Energy, Climate and the Environment. We want more renewables, including more onshore renewables, offshore, more onshore wind, onshore solar and so on, and we are doing well as a country in that regard. Some 40% of our electricity last year was generated from renewable energy, so we are going in the right direction. We need to get to...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I recall the Deputy making that point to the Dáil. He is right to highlight the safety measures that underpin the law and the spirit of the law. I offer my condolences to the him on the terrible tragedy that occurred to his mother-in-law. Any road death is one too many. This is a job we all have to do. We have this law for a reason. I do not envisage changing it. Notwithstanding...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The opening day of the Brian Boru Bridge was a fantastic day in Killaloe. The Chairman will know it was a very important day. I again commend everyone involved in the project. It is absolutely superb. It will make a big difference and not just at the bypass. On phase 2 of the Limerick northern distributor road, I will engage with officials. Mr. Doocey here is scribbling away furiously.

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

Darragh O'Brien: Nílim cinnte faoi sin. As the Deputy rightly said, a section is currently under construction. The issue has been that the transport strategy for Limerick did not include a full distributor road across the north of the city. I will look at the issue. This is a new Administration. I am honoured to be the new Minister in this Department. Obviously, we are constrained by the resources...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Chairman for the committee's interaction with the RSA and for his comments. I got a lot of very positive feedback on the briefing the Department provided. At the very outset, I should have thanked my colleagues from the Department who are here with me today. Members found the briefing very useful. It was very detailed and practical to give new Members an opportunity to see what...

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

Darragh O'Brien: It really did. On multiple licences, the Cathaoirleach is right. We have to get over this piece first. That is something that has been discussed with the new chair in relation to its work plan. We are going to look at how the RSA is going to be structured into the future. The road safety strategy will speak to that later this summer. There still needs to be a focus on NCT testing. I...

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

Darragh O'Brien: That is a very good question. I have not. No project has come to me at this stage that people have said will be significantly over budget. I will check if there are and advise the Chair after the meeting just in case.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Chair for his engagement with me. It has been very constructive and he has been advocating very strongly on behalf of the region and not just his own constituents but beyond that. We expect the Cahir to Limerick business case by the end of this year. That is ahead of Cahir to Waterford but there are no issues with Cahir to Waterford. It will be done sequentially. We expect...

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

Darragh O'Brien: No problem. I expect to be able to roll out free travel for five- to eight-year-olds in September this year. The issue of over-70 school drivers has to be dealt with. It does not sit directly in my Department. We need to engage further with the Department of education in that regard. There are people over 70 driving buses privately and then they cannot drive a bus to a school. We...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I was at the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Government colleagues last Friday. There was a sense and a feeling at the time that the judgment would be positive. There was great disappointment on both sides of the Border that the ruling was as it was and that, effectively, the project has been paused. It will be up to the Northern...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Chair. This was a useful engagement. I have taken his points on Local Link. We are to get a report. It might be useful for the answer for the Chair. The Local Link structure was under review for the previous programme for Government commitment. We received that report last year. We had decent engagement with the transport co-ordination units and the report, with...

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

Darragh O'Brien: As TDs, who go around and talk to our constituents, we know, anecdotally, that the fare reductions have had an impact. That is not quantified. It is very difficult to assess that to say what level of increase in public transport users is attributable to fare reductions. The principle of an affordable, punctual, reliable and accessible service is important and that reliability piece is...