Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the last hour, the European Commission announced the rolling out of the second round of the DiscoverEU interrail ticket project. This was launched last year following strong campaigning by our MEP, Brian Hayes, in conjunction with Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament. The scheme is very simple. It gives 18 year olds across Europe the chance to obtain a free one-month interrail ticket to mark their 18th birthday in order that they might have the ability to discover why Europe is as it is, its history, geography and landscape and everything else that goes with it. I was very fortunate to go interrailing twice in my student years. It is vital that the youth of today get to visit places such as Auschwitz, Paris, Berlin and Rome to learn their full history. I call on the Leader to invite the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to the Chamber to discuss how many Irish people were among the 15,000 awarded grants under the first round. What is the aspiration for the second round, amounting to 12,000 grants this year?