Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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572. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the annual amount of subsidy paid to operators on PSO routes in each of the years 2017 to 2019 and to date in 2020; if he has projections of funding for 2021 to 2023, in tabular form; the breakdown by year, amount, route and operator; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10031/20]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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573. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the amount of funding provided to CIÉ, Irish Rail and Dublin Bus in the past five years to date in 2020; the expected amount of funding he plans to provide for the remaining months of 2020 and 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10032/20]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 572 and 573 together.

As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport in Ireland. The Exchequer allocates funding for the purposes of both capital and current expenditure from the Department's Vote to the National Transport Authority (NTA) for allocation to the transport operators for the provision of public transport services and infrastructure. In Budget 2020, I secured an overall allocation of €1 billion to fund public and sustainable transport projects this year.

Since 2010, the award of Public Service Obligation (PSO) funding falls under the independent statutory remit of the NTA. The allocations to the companies are decided by the NTA in exercise of its statutory mandate and in accordance with the various contract arrangements that it has in place with PSO service providers.

It should be noted that the sharp decline in passenger numbers since mid-March this year as a result of the Covid-19 health emergency has caused an unprecedented fall in fare revenues, thus creating a wide gap between the operators' costs and actual revenues. This is putting acute pressure on the existing Public Service Obligation (PSO) budget. However, it is clear that public transport is an essential service and that it is an important facilitator of the Government's Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. Therefore, I have been clear that we will ensure that this year's PSO is appropriately funded. To that end, my Department is working closely with the NTA to quantify the additional funding requirements for the coming months, and we had very positive engagement across Government about the matter.

In relation to the Deputy's query about the allocation for PSO public transport services for future years, that will be subject to the annual Budgetary process and therefore the allocations for 2021 and beyond are yet to be determined in the context of future Estimates processes.

In relation to infrastructure, as the Deputy is aware, the Infrastructure Manager Multi-Annual Contract(or IMMAC) provides the funding framework for the maintenance and renewal of our railway infrastructure and is a statutory contractual agreement between the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and Iarnród Éireann. The IMMAC allocations for 2020 and 2021 are €199.7m. and €202.5m. respectively, and the provisions for the past 5 years are set out in the following table.

*included extra €8m for storm damage under IMMAC.

Separately, Exchequer capital funding is also provided to Iarnród Éireann, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann through the NTA. This programme supports projects such as the continued planning and design of the DART Expansion Programme, the City Centre (rail) Resignalling Project, the replacement of the roof at Pearse Station, the development of the new National Train Control Centre, bus fleet purchases and various other enhancement projects. This funding programme is managed by the NTA,

In view of the above I have referred the Deputy's questions to the NTA for direct reply. Please inform my private office if you do you receive a reply within 10 days.