Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

I thank Senator Crowe for the question. It is an issue which we have discussed within the Department. It is an important issue because, for me, the experience of a passenger on public transport is key to getting them to repeat using it and trying to reduce the number of cars. I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services, such as catering services, which are an operational matter for Iarnród Éireann. That said, I can assure the Senator that Iarnród Éireann worked hard to restore catering services where possible following the conclusion of the Covid-19 restrictions and engaged extensively with a range of operators in the market in order to do so. However, with costs of up to four times the previous levels quoted, Iarnród Éireann has had to work to deliver the service on a limited basis and within available funding.

Iarnród Éireann successfully restored catering on the Dublin to Cork route with Irish company Carriage Food Services Limited providing this service on an interim basis while a national tender was undertaken. Onboard catering is also available on the Dublin to Belfast Enterprise service, jointly operated by Iarnród Éireann and Translink. This is provided under a separate contract. As an alternative measure, I am assured that Iarnród Éireann is working to enhance retail and catering offerings at stations, and customers are also allowed to bring their own food and beverages, excluding alcohol, on board.

A full tender process was undertaken for catering services across the intercity network. While costs have been determined, Irish Rail has only been in a position to contract catering on the Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Belfast routes within the current public service obligation, PSO, funding arising from this tender process. The company continues to engage with the National Transport Authority and Department of Transport about scope for any further funding to support this reintroduction, if at all possible, in the future.

The Department of Transport secured €658 million in funding for the PSO and TFI Local Link services in budget 2025, an increase from €613 million in 2024. From this, we extended the 20% fare reduction and 90-minute fare on PSO services so that everyone would benefit until the end of 2025. Equally, we have extended the 50% reduction available for young adults on board the PSO and commercial bus services until the end of 2025. We are supporting new and enhanced bus services and rail services too. Further measures introduced this year are the extension of free travel for children from five years to eight years of age and, most recently, the roll-out of the NTA distance-based and more equitable fares strategy, with significant reductions in fares for many as a result.Therefore funding of the public transport service is focused on existing fare initiatives and service provision, such as BusConnects in the five cities, expanding town services in the large towns, and rolling out Connecting Ireland in rural Ireland. These measures are working to enhance factors such as frequency, accessibility and reliability in attracting and retaining the users. Therefore funding for additional catering costs on intercity rail services is not available at this time.

I can assure the House that this Government is committed to delivering an accessible, reliable and affordable public transport system for all our citizens, including children. Under the programme for Government, our commitments include the roll-out of contactless payments, for which the contract has already been awarded, keeping fares affordable, and examining the future expansion of free public transport for children. I assure the Senator that the Minister for Transport is committed to making improvements to public transport services while at the same time ensuring that our system remains financially sustainable in the long term.