Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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228. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on whether in order to encourage the public to stop using their cars for environmental reasons, there must be a high quality public transport system in place; the measures being taken by his Department to improve public transport in an area (details supplied) currently; and the plans for the medium to long-term. [55295/22]

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 public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in conjunction with the relevant transport operators.

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 this goal. The recently agreed Budget 2023 helps support this objective and is a further positive development for public transport passengers across the country.

We have extended the 20% fare reduction on PSO services so that everyone will benefit until the end of 2023; equally we’ve extended the 50% reduction available for young adults on both PSO and commercial bus services until the end of 2023 and we are supporting new and enhanced bus and rail services throughout 2023 as well. These are all part of a €563 million funding package to support PSO services and that package is hugely significant in the context of providing accessible and affordable transport options.

In light of the Authority's responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's specific question in relation to the improvement of the Dublin 15B Bus Route, to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.