Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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355. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the estimated full-year cost if the Defence Forces sea going Naval personnel tax credit increased to €2,000 and reduced the number of patrol days to 68 days annually to be eligible. [20904/25]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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356. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to establish a transport for Cork stakeholders group with the members and chairs of the Transport SPCs in Cork City and County, to ensure streamlined communication amongst State agencies delivering infrastructural investment in transport in Cork city and county. [20569/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The Government recognises the benefits of meaningful public consultation and stakeholder engagement as part of the development of public transport infrastructure. Without this, projects can lack vital local knowledge and are less assured of reaching their potential.

The Department of Transport has funded the National Transport Authority (NTA) to work with local authorities in each of our five cities (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford) to develop metropolitan area transport strategies. These strategies consider the whole functional area of the five cities, have a 20-year horizon and are subject to review every six years. They provide an evidence informed framework to support the development of individual projects. These strategies are consistent with the spatial planning objectives in the National Planning Framework and the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.

The Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS) was published in 2020 and is a non-statutory strategy prepared by the NTA in collaboration with Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. CMATS includes a number of major infrastructural projects, such as BusConnects Cork and Luas Cork, which progress through both statutory and non-statutory public consultation, as well as progressing through any consultation required as part of the planning process.

While there is no current plan to establish a stakeholder group as specified by the Deputy, public consultation is embedded in processes as outlined above, and I thank the Deputy for bringing the proposal to my attention.