Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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77. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps he is taking to increase transport accessibility in public transport in rural areas. [11734/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of accessible public passenger transport services in conjunction with the respective service operator. The NTA also has national responsibility for integrated local and rural transport, including management of the Rural Transport Programme which operates under the TFI Local Link brand.  

In light of the NTA's responsibilities for accessible public transport servcies in rural areas, I have referred your question to the NTA for direct reply to you. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider the issues outlined by a representative organisation in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12064/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport, nor decisions on fares. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) that has responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services, provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts.

The Government is strongly committed to helping combat the rising cost-of-living being experienced throughout the country. In this context, a suite of new measures is being introduced by Government to help with this issue, including a 20% average fare reduction on PSO services until the end of 2022. These discounted fares will benefit the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who use public transport every day. A further €54m in Exchequer funding has been secured to allow for the introduction of these discounted fares, this is in addition to the REV22 allocations. The NTA will work with the PSO public transport operators in the coming weeks to commence rolling out these fare reductions across the public transport network in April/May.

Also, in recognition of the importance of incentivising young people to use public transport, as part of Budget 2022 I secured €25m of funding to provide for the introduction of a young adult card (YAC) which will allow any person nationwide who is between 19 and 23 years old, to avail of an entitlement for discounted travel costs, and to increase the level of discount over and above the current student discount to an average of discount of 50% across all services, including city, intercity and rural services. It is envisaged that the discount will initially be made available on PSO services, and then broadened to include commercial operators at a later date.  This will not only promote modal shift in the transport sector among this age group but should also contribute towards a reduced reliance on private transport with associated benefit of transport emission savings.

Licensed bus operators are an integral part of the overall public transport system particularly in areas which are not covered by existing public service bus and rail services. In recognition of this, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the Government have provided temporary financial supports for certain licensed commercial services with a view to protecting capacity across the public transport sector throughout the crisis. To date c.€60m has been provided to support the Commercial Bus Operators during this challenging time.

As the Deputy will understand, I receive a large number of diary requests that are considered and coordinated with my private offices in both the Department of Transport and Department of Environment, Climate and Communications in a weekly joint meeting. I note that it is not always possible to respond in the affirmative to every request.

However, I would like to reassure the Deputy that both the National Transport Authority (NTA) and my Department have been engaging directly with commercial bus operators throughout the crisis to help inform policy decisions in relation to the public transport sector as we continue to deal with the impact of Covid-19.

In this context, my Department has been liaising with the Coach Tourism & Transport Council of Ireland (CTTC) since May 2020 - to date 22 meetings have taken place, and a further meeting is scheduled for 8th April 2022. I also previously met with the CTTC and I am aware of the issues facing the sector.

I hope to meet again with representatives from the CTTC to discuss the highlighted issues at a future date when my diary allows.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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79. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will carry out a study of rail fares nationally and in particular the great disparity that exists between the fares charged to daily commuters in greater Dublin and those in regional cities. [11838/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport, nor decisions on fares. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) that has responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services, provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts.

In light of the Authority's responsibility in this area, I have fowarded the Deputy's specific question, in relation to the possibility of a study of rail fares being carried out nationally, to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.