Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I thank the Senator for raising it, as I know he has done previously.

I understand the Senator is asking that the young adult card scheme be extended to include 50% discounted journeys to colleges in Northern Ireland. The Department for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, the Department is not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services nationally. The NTA has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally by way of public transport service contracts and for the allocation of associated funding to the relevant transport operators.

I reassure Senator Gallagher that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of that goal. To support this objective, in budget 2023, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, secured €563 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and Local Link services this year. As Members are aware, last year, in recognition of the importance of incentivising more young people to use public transport, the Minister secured €25 million in funding for the introduction of the young adult card. Funding has again been secured under budget 2023 for the continuation of this exciting initiative, through which 19- to 23-year-olds can avail of an average discount of 50% across all services, including city, intercity and rural services. Mature students in full-time education are also included in the scheme, as are eligible visitors to Ireland within the young adult age cohort.

The young adult card was initially introduced on PSO services on 9 May and this extended to participating commercial bus operators on 4 September. Everybody was thankful for that extension because PSO services were not available in many areas.

To get to the nub of the Senator's question on the young adult card scheme and the future growth of the scheme to include 50% discounted journeys to colleges in Northern Ireland, I am happy to clarify that third level students can avail of a 50% reduction over the normal adult fares charges on the entire route, assuming that the origin of the journey and the third level institution are both in the South. I am pleased to have been able to clarify that. This means, for example, that if 90% of the journey is through the South and the remaining 10% is through Northern Ireland, the 50% discount will then only apply to the 90% of the journey that is carried out within the State.There seems to be a little bit of a contradiction there from what I am hearing. On the one hand we are saying that third level students can avail of a 50% reduction over the normal adult fare charges on the entire route, assuming the origin of the journey and the third level institution are both in the South.