Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider liaising with Bus Éireann to issue free travel passes to Ukrainian refugees for a set period of time in order to allow them to get from rural locations to urban centres for work and school as they assimilate into Irish society. [16840/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As the Deputy is aware, a whole of Government approach is being adopted regarding the Ukrainian crisis. In line with this approach, in my own Department, we have established a high-level group to monitor and respond as appropriate to the crisis and consider the role that the transport sector could play. The group coordinates closely with other Government Departments, agencies and key transport stakeholders to ensure a coordinated response to the evolving situation.

In this context, it was agreed that free travel would be provided for newly arriving Ukrainian refugees on any Public Service Obligation (PSO) public transport service from port of entry to their end destination. This initiative is being applied across all PSO contracted services, including commercial bus services included in emergency PSO contracts, and those services that are part of the emergency commercial bus operator grant scheme. The situation is being monitored on an ongoing basis and will be reviewed at the end of April.

To avail, intending passengers should present the driver/relevant operator employee with the following:

- Ukrainian passport or other Ukrainian government issued ID and evidence of arrival in Ireland within the previous seven days, such as an airline booking email or boarding card stub, or

- confirmation of status from a coordinating group or charity involved in the Ukrainian crisis.

Consideration on whether longer term free public transport could be provided to Ukrainian refugees, either through a Leap card or a Free Travel Scheme, is on-going.