Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues for their support for the motion. That support seems to be pretty much cross-party in nature. Other issues were raised during the debate, but, in framing this motion, I felt it was important to stick to one matter because public transport is so complex and there is so much we need to do, particularly in the context of connecting rural communities. I really believe that extending the short hop zone and including a medium hop zone is important.

The Minister of State stated that she is generally in agreement and that looking at fairer fares is really important. I do not really care what this would be called. It does not need to be called an extension of the short hop zone. It could be called fairer fares, better transport or affordable transport. The name does not matter; it is the principle that matters. From what the Minister of State said, I feel the Government is in agreement with the principle of ensuring that the fare per kilometre is the same outside the short hop zone as inside it. That is what we all want and that is key.

I wish to respond to the Sinn Féin assertion that nothing for public transport was included in the budget. It is significant that the Government extended the 50% student fare to 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds and full-time mature students in the budget. This is something I fought hard for. I have heard Senators state that it was most unfair that it just catered to 19- to 23-year-olds. The extension of the 50% student fare and the 20% for everybody is significant. As a result, it is unfair to say that public transport was not fairly treated in the context of the budget; it was. Obviously, we can do more and we need to do more. The fact that the NTA is examining fairer fares gives me hope.

The reason I put in the medium hop zone is because simply by moving the radius to 50 km and leaving it there, which, apparently, is Fine Gael policy, just pushes the can to other areas and again, leaves councillors and public representatives on the fringes of those areas to start the fight all over again about extending it. I felt that the creation of a medium hop zone between 50 km and 75 km was a logical accompaniment to that. Obviously, if this is taken on board, the NTA would do its own research into it.

A comment was made to the effect that I was looking at a certain part of the country. I make no apology for that. The areas within Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath are under significant pressure because they are beside the capital city with regard to jobs, etc. Due to the cost of housing, many people have moved to our counties and, of course, they are very welcome. From 1996 to 2016, Kildare experienced population growth of 64.8%. During this period, the population in Newbridge grew by 189%. That tells a significant story. Newbridge is now home to more than 10% of the population of Kildare, with further population growth of 25% expected by 2026. The population of the town has exploded with much of it due to people who moved to Newbridge because they could not afford to buy a house in Dublin. They are returning to Dublin by car for work, so we need to ensure that we facilitate this type of public transport.

I hope the Minister of State is supportive of my motion because it does align with Green Party policy in terms of putting funding into public transport, taking people off the roads and ensuring that they do not have second cars. In some instances, people may not need a car at all if they live close to public transport. That is what we hope to achieve by this. I am very heartened by the cross-party support for the motion. This is Fianna Fáil policy, and I hope to see it incorporated into Government policy very soon.